During the Great Patriotic War A. I. Rodimtsev commanded the 13th Guards Order of Lenin rifle division, which was part of the 62nd Army, which heroically defended Stalingrad. Then he commanded the Guards Rifle Corps and reached the capital of Czechoslovakia - Prague. On June 2, 1945, A.I. Rodimtsev was awarded the second gold medal of Hero Soviet Union. He was also awarded many orders and medals. Elected as a deputy Supreme Council RSFSR of the second convocation and deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the third convocation.
Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev was born into a poor peasant family. Russian by nationality. Member of the CPSU since 1929. IN Soviet army
since 1927. In 1932 he graduated from the Military School named after the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Participated in the Spanish Civil War and in the liberation of Western Belarus.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to A. I. Rodimtsev on October 22, 1937 for exemplary performance special task. In 1939 he graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze.
After the war he graduated from the Higher academic courses at the Academy General Staff, commanded the formation. Currently, Colonel General A.I. Rodimtsev is in a responsible position in the ranks of the Soviet Army. He is the author of several books.
On central square in the regional village of Sharlyk, widely spread across the vast Orenburg steppe, a bust of the Twice Hero was erected. People of the older generation remember the one who is sculpted in bronze as a barefoot boy from a poor family, Ilya Rodimtsev, they remember him as a shoemaker's apprentice.
A long time ago, in 1927, a rural boy, Alexander Rodimtsev, was called up for active service and left his native place. Since those distant times, Alexander did not have to return to home. He came home as a soldier on leave. Came as a cadet; told how he stood guard at the door of the Mausoleum. He came as a red commander. Even before the war, as a colonel, he came here, as usual. And only from the newspapers did the villagers learn that their fellow countryman deserved high rank Hero.
And after the Great Patriotic War, he came as a general to the opening of his bronze bust twice Hero. And the relatives - and there were more than half of them here - said that the bust seemed similar, but it was difficult to recognize the fair-haired and light-eyed Orenburg Cossack in the bronze.
Here they elected Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; he always comes here when he has a few free days. And in Moscow, the general’s apartment is something like a permanent representative office of the village of Sharlyk. No matter what business the fellow countrymen go to the capital for, they have a home in Moscow.
But the Sharlyk Cossacks rarely find the owner himself in Moscow. He is in the service, in the army, living like a soldier.
The Great Patriotic War found Colonel Rodimtsev in a small town in Ukraine. He commanded an airborne brigade, mastering a new military specialty. After all, he started in the cavalry, and in a distant country that fought for its freedom, he was a volunteer machine gunner. The airborne troops were very proud of their commander, Hero of the Soviet Union. Rodimtsev did not tell anyone about himself, but among the fighters subordinate to him there were legends about the captain of the Republican Army of Spain, who blocked the fascists’ path to the University campus in Madrid. The captain replaced the machine gunner at the post and forced the Nazis to roll back.
They said that Rodimtsev was one of those who made famous the small Spanish river Jarama, which became an impassable border for the enemy.
Yes, Rodimtsev was in Guadalajara, near Brunete and near Teruel. Red Army conscripts and infantrymen, who proudly wore the blue buttonholes of paratroopers, saw in their commander a model and example. And the time has come for them, twenty years old, to prove that they are worthy of their commander.
The paratroopers were sent to defend Kyiv. The time has not yet come to use airborne units for their intended purpose. However, the direct purpose of these soldiers was a feat, and they accomplished it.
The Red Army soldiers under the command of Rodimtsev concentrated on the main street of Kyiv - Khreshchatyk. And when Hitler’s generals had already prepared a telegram that Kyiv had been captured by them, the Rodimtsevites struck a counter blow to the fascists. On 20 days of August forty-one, the airborne corps, which included Rodimtsev’s brigade, fought fierce battles, which now and then turned into hand-to-hand combat. Supported by artillerymen, the paratroopers advanced 800 meters per day. But they were moving to the west. We were heading west in August 1941! Those who participated in the Patriotic War will never forget this tragic month, will understand what it meant for that time to go west. The paratroopers marched 15 kilometers to the west with continuous battles to hold the defense in the Goloseevsky forest, this University town of Kyiv.
That's how it is baptism of fire soldiers commanded by Rodimtsev. The heroism of their commander was passed on to these young guys who had never fought before.
At the end of August, the brigade was withdrawn north of Kyiv in order to continue training in the airborne specialty. But at that time, circumstances were rapidly changing, and on September 1, Rodimtsev’s paratroopers again found themselves in battle. They stood on the Seim River and did not allow the Nazis to take a single step until they were completely surrounded. With coordinated actions, the corps broke through the strong ring and, in three days of battles, inflicting huge losses on the enemy, escaped the encirclement. The experience of fighting on the Seim River was added to the experience of fighting on the Harama River. At that time, the colonel, the brigade commander, did not know that he would have to fight on the Volga, but he was firmly convinced that he would cross the Vistula and Oder, and see the Elbe. The appearance of General Ognev in the famous play “Front”, which appeared in those days, reproduces many features inherent in Rodimtsev, in whose part Alexander Korneichuk visited more than once.
I arrived in the division commanded by Alexander Rodimtsev at the end of 1941. This division was created from the same airborne unit that fought in Kyiv and the Seimas. I had to meet with Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev before, but in snowy fields Kursk region It was the first time I saw him in a combat situation. Yes, we were already in the center of Russia, but the atmosphere in the division somehow happily did not correspond to the difficult situation that had developed at the front. The troops were preparing for the offensive. The division commander took me with him to the front line. We came to the soldiers, commanded by the young hero Oleg Kokushkin, who was awarded the Order of the Red Banner three times during the six months of the war. I heard Kokushkin and Rodimtsev talking to the soldiers lying on the slippery, icy snow.
Cold. How to keep warm, Comrade Divisional Commander?
Let's move forward, take the city of Tim - let's warm up and New Year“We’ll handle it,” Rodimtsev answered somehow at home.
The fire is strong ahead, comrade commanders...
So, we need to go through it as quickly as possible.
This offensive ended in success. Tim was taken.
The name of Rodimtsev is widely known among our people, and his fame is usually associated with the battles for the Volga stronghold. But I dwelled in such detail on the initial period of the war because for the 13th Guards Division, courage was prepared by severe battles, was a continuation of the battles on Khreshchatyk and near Tim, and for its commander - and a continuation of the battles in the University City of Madrid and near Guadalajara.
And the 13th Guards Division under the command of Major General Alexander Rodimtsev, after the battles near Kharkov, was in reserve on the left bank of the Volga. The guards were worried: it was bitter for them to be in the rear when such heavy fighting was taking place on the outskirts of Stalingrad. But Rodimtsev himself was calm, or rather, did not betray his excitement in any way. Wearing a Red Army tunic with general's buttonholes and a simple cap, from dawn until late at night he practiced street combat tactics with the fighters.
The general's distinctive quality has always been a cheerful calmness, not at all feigned, very natural. Having already had 15 years behind him by that time army service, past the path from a soldier to a general, who graduated from the Frunze Military Academy, a real “military bone”, the division commander did not lose some very sincere, almost homely tone in conversation with the soldiers. He knew how to talk without jokes, without ingratiation, with an ordinary soldier and an officer as equals, primarily in responsibility for the fate of the Motherland.
The situation in the Stalingrad area became very difficult starting from the twentieth of August 1942. But the hardest days came in mid-September. That's when the 13th Guards Division received orders to concentrate in the Krasnaya Sloboda area and move to the city center.
This crossing of the Guards Division has already gone down in history; a lot has been written about it. But again and again the memory of this crossing of the Volga makes my heart beat rapidly. The division was transported at the place that the Nazis chose for themselves; here they intended to enter the defeated city. The tip of our 13th Guards pierced right into the tip of the enemy’s main attack. The division went to where hundreds of enemy tanks and selected infantry divisions were already concentrated. On the other side of the river, as the memoirs of Marshals Eremenko and Chuikov testify, we had already sent our last forces into battle.
This one-of-a-kind crossing under heavy enemy fire could not be supported by our artillery fire - they would have hit our own. Fuel spilled from the bullet-riddled tanks of the oil storage facility into the Volga. The river was on fire, the fire was extinguished only by fascist shells exploding everywhere.
Armored boats moved through this continuous fire Volga flotilla, barges, boats, longboats with guardsmen.
If you have been to Volgograd in recent decades, you know the beautiful embankment, with granite terraces going down to the river. This is where the 13th Guards Division was crossing. On a towing boat, called for some reason by the Japanese name "Kawasaki", he crossed the Volga and the headquarters of the division led by the general. The headquarters closed the crossing and crossed already during the day, that is, in conditions of tenfold danger.
Having lost many soldiers during the crossing of the Volga, the 13th Guards became one of the equal units defending the city. Next to it were other divisions and brigades, each of which, no less than the 13th Guards, deserves to be glorified in songs and legends.
Rodimtsev’s guardsmen immediately entered the battle in order to defend as part of the 62nd Army great city. I visited this division several times during the defense of the Volga stronghold. Not being a military specialist, I, however, could not help but be carried away by that military science, which the division commander was constantly busy with. Returning from the front line, he and his staff officers would bend over the map, becoming both teacher and student. In the continuous roar of artillery explosions and machine gun fire, which was the sound background of this battle from its beginning to the end, Rodimtsev, in his calm, “homey” voice, analyzed every episode of the battle, set tasks, weighed the pros and cons. This happened both in the adit, where there was not enough oxygen, and in the “pipe”, where the staff officers were flooded with water.
I have already spoken about the general’s calmness. I never saw him angry. But I saw him delighted. Rodimtsev spoke enthusiastically about the actions of other divisions, and about their commanders, and about the soldiers subordinate to him.
I will not repeat the story of “Sergeant Pavlov’s house.” This feat of the soldiers of the 13th Guards is widely known. For two months a small garrison defended the ruins of the house, which became an impregnable fortress. I just want to remember that Sergeant Pavlov learned that he was a Hero only in the summer of 1945 in Germany, during the days of demobilization. After he was seriously wounded in “his home” and evacuated to the hospital, he returned to the front (to other units) several times to fight bravely, be wounded again, recover, and fight again. Once, during a quiet period, he saw a newsreel release of “Pavlov’s House,” but did not tell anyone that this was a house named after him.
This fact characterizes one of the guardsmen of Rodimtsev’s division, perhaps no less vividly than his feat in the burning city on the Volga. This is how the general raised the guardsmen of his division, starting with himself.
One of the incredible feats of the 13th Guards that amazed the world is the battle for the city station. All those who fought died here, and while they were alive, the station was not surrendered.
I remember the inscription on the wall: “Rodimtsev’s guards stood here to the death.”
This was not written after the battles - it was written by the fighters who were bleeding, but continued to fight.
The dominant height of the city on the Volga is Mamayev Kurgan, on the top of which now stands a statue of the Mother Motherland and a park is growing Eternal glory, was taken by storm by the division's guards. To clarify the role of the division in the defense of the hero city, I will only allow myself to once again remind the reader that by the time the division crossed the Volga, fascist machine gunners were already in charge on the bank, in the area of the central embankment. Then the guards managed to recapture several streets, occupy the station and a number of central blocks. The city center never fell to the enemy - it was recaptured and held in the hands of the guards of the 13th division.
“Rodimtsev will flounder in the Volga,” shouted the horns of German radio cars. And the general in a sheepskin coat and a soldier’s hat, blackened by smoke, walked to the command posts of the regiments and battalions. Let's face it, these were not long paths, but every meter threatened death. How many fascist attacks did the division repulse? It is perhaps impossible to count.
I remember that on the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution the division was summing up its results. Some figures remain in memory: 77 tanks were burned, more than 6 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. Later, prisoners of Paulus' troops showed much more impressive figures. But the division’s success figures were always “underestimated.”
In those days, the Spanish Republicans gathered in London sent a telegram to Rodimtsev. It said: “The glorious defense of Stalingrad by the people and the Red Army... is a symbol of the steadfastness of human freedom.”
The general was in the city from the moment of the crossing until the victory. On January 26, he and a group of soldiers came out to the sounds of artillery cannonade coming from the west. At that time, only dozens of guardsmen remained in the battalions of the division, and they rushed after the general. I saw how Rodimtsev presented the banner to the soldiers of N. T. Tavartkiladze’s division, who broke into the city from the banks of the Don. It was a homemade banner; on a piece of red calico it was written in purple pencil: “From the Guards Order of Lenin of the 13th Rifle Division as a sign of the meeting on January 26.” I don’t know where this banner is now, but it seems to me that it is a historical relic of the Great Patriotic War. Its transfer into the hands of fighters who came from the west symbolized the dissection of the enemy group encircled in the Stalingrad area into two parts.
For the battles in the Stalingrad area, General Rodimtsev was Hero of the Soviet Union awarded the order Red Star. From here began the journey of the general and the formation he led to the west. The general was appointed commander of the corps, which included the 13th Guards. The combat route of the corps passed through the places where the airborne brigade fought, and later the 87th Rifle Division, which became the 13th Guards Division. The corps fought near Kharkov, liberated Poltava and Kremenchug, and crossed the Dnieper.
The starting point for this journey was the famous Prokhorovka, the battles on the Kursk Bulge. The battle of Prokhorovka went down in history as one of the most grandiose tank battles. Sometimes in stories about Prokhorovka the role of the infantry fades into the background. And this role was great and serious, because tanks alone would not have been able to cope with the hordes of the enemy who were trying to use the Kursk bridgehead for a decisive offensive planned by the enemy for the summer of 1943.
Tank formations of the Soviet Army entered this battle hand in hand with Rodimtsev’s infantrymen. And then fighting broke out again on Ukrainian soil.
The liberation of the city and the railway junction of Znamenka was of great importance on this section of the front. The divisions of the corps were named Poltava and Kremenchug, and the commander was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
The general entered with his troops and Small town, where the airborne brigade was stationed before the war. Many rivers lay on his way through the territory of his homeland: Vorskla, Psel, Dnieper, Bug, Bug again - it is winding, - finally, the Dniester. And every time, going ashore, the general recalled the most difficult crossing in his life - the crossing of the Volga and the distant rivers Ebro and Jarama. But in war, memories are needed only for action. And in the field book of the corps commander, all this was written down dryly and matter-of-factly - crossing the rivers... Without artillery support... With artillery support... Under the influence of enemy aviation... With the immediate deployment of battle formations and the capture of a bridgehead on the right bank.. There is also such a record: crossing a water barrier under the influence of attack and bombing aircraft up to 600 sorties per day...
The summer of forty-four is memorable for the soldiers guards corps crossing the Vistula near Sandomierz. At the famous Sandomierz bridgehead, the Nazis threw four tank divisions, one mechanized and two infantry. But was it really possible to push into the Vistula those who could not be pushed into the Volga?
The corps strengthened itself on the Sandomierz bridgehead, from here it made a bold breakthrough and, breaking through the enemy’s heavily fortified positional defenses, pursued the enemy to the Oder and crossed the Oder on the move. There were many difficult days along the way. I did not see Rodimtsev in despondency. In a harsh moment, the word “shaitan” just burst out from somewhere in the Orenburg steppes.
Rodimtsev encountered the wet European winter of 1945 already on German territory. He prepared the troops for a decisive breakthrough, an offensive that ended on April 24, 1945 with access to the Elbe near the city of Torgau.
Under the walls of this mossy fortress, the guards met the Allied troops. The meeting went down in history. American soldiers, whose military path in the Second World War was much easier and shorter than our path, were surprised at the bearing, health and dashing appearance of the guards who had just emerged from a fierce battle. It was big celebration, a joyful meeting, and, it would seem, for Rodimtsev and his corps, who had traveled more than seven and a half thousand kilometers on the roads of war, the war had already ended. But no! The corps received an order to turn south; in a heavy battle, it took Dresden, senselessly destroyed by Allied bombing. But even here, on May 7, the war was not over for Rodimtsev.
The corps received new order- with a swift rush to the south, liberate a number of cities in Czechoslovakia and help Prague, where flames have already broken out popular uprising. The speed and power of this operation seem incredible now: after all, the troops of the corps took part in the most difficult battles in April - May 1945, each of which seemed to be the last and final one. But no sooner had one battle ended than the need arose to rush into a new, even more difficult battle.
In Moscow, the ceremonial volleys of the victorious salute have already thundered, already in the building of the Engineering School in Karlshorst German field marshal Keitel signed the act of complete surrender with a trembling hand, and the corps under the command of Rodimtsev still fought in the mountains of Czechoslovakia.
The guards burst into Terezin, where thousands of prisoners had already been rounded up for execution - Czechs, Russians, Magyars, residents of many European countries. If the guards had been half an hour, fifteen minutes late, it would have been all over.
At that moment, the general was informed: in the crowd gathered for execution, a woman was giving birth. Rodimtsev ordered her to be immediately taken to the medical battalion of the 13th Guards Division, which had already approached Terezin. After the battle, Rodimtsev arrived at the medical battalion and learned that an exhausted prisoner from Hungary, weighing only about 40 kilograms, had given birth to a girl. This was an event that excited all the residents of Terezin. The news spread through the building: the girl and mother were alive, the child was named by the Russian name Valya.
Looking ahead many years, I will say that Valya Badash, a citizen of the Hungarian People's Republic, a teacher at the University of Budapest, and Colonel General Alexander Rodimtsev are honorary citizens of the city of Terezin in Czechoslovakia and met there to celebrate the next Victory Day.
But then their meeting in the medical battalion of the 13th Guards Division was one-minute. The troops rushed to Prague and within a few hours were already fighting for its liberation.
But even here the Great Patriotic War did not end for Alexander Rodimtsev and the corps under his command. It was necessary to rush to the aid of the burning city of Kladno.
Battle path airborne brigade, then the 87th Rifle Division, which became the 13th Guards, and, finally, the corps, which included the 13th, 95th and 97th Guards Divisions, amounted to seven and a half thousand kilometers. To these seven and a half in Czechoslovakia another five hundred were added.
The victories of the brigade, division, and then corps were not only the personal success of their commander.
Whenever I visited Rodimtsev’s headquarters, I saw him surrounded by loyal comrades - political workers and staff officers, heads of services and branches of the military. When making a decision, the commander consulted with them for a long time, and together with them developed an operation plan.
And it is no coincidence that political workers of the 13th Guards Division M.S. Shumilov, G.Ya. Marchenko, A.K. Shchur became generals in the fire of battle.
There are feats that make a fighter a hero in amazing short term: one day - crossing the river, one night - a burning tank, an instant, unprecedentedly bold attack. But there are feats that cannot be determined in a day, in a moment. Second " Golden Star"lit up on the chest of General Alexander Rodimtsev as a reflection of a thousand feats accomplished by the fighters of his formation, nurtured and led by him. Of course, the Motherland also took into account the personal courage of the general, a hero, always and in everything.
All these years the general was engaged in educating troops, educating soldiers. Nurtured by the army, becoming a Komsomol member and communist in its ranks, he is considered a military environment a man of legendary personal courage. As a witness, I confirm: yes, for General Rodimtsev the concept of “fear” does not exist. But it was not recklessness, but calm, precise calculation that always guided him in a combat situation. By a lucky coincidence, not a single bullet, not a single shrapnel ever hit him. He emerged from the war as a young man, with a barely silver head and cheerful young eyes in heavy eyelids that seemed swollen from four years of insomnia. He continues to serve in our Armed Forces today. The second rhombus, indicating his graduation from the Higher Military Academy, appeared on his uniform next to the many orders that his Motherland awarded him, the crosses and stars with which foreign states noted his valor.
When I visit my old comrade in arms, I always see piles of scribbled paper and folders with manuscripts on his desk. When it breaks out free time, the general records the small and great events of his combat life. These are not memoirs in the narrow sense of the word, but rather the stories of an experienced person. Many books by Alexander Rodimtsev have already reached the reader. This is the result of fifteen years of work - the book “Under the Sky of Spain”, these are stories for children “Mashenka from the Mousetrap”, documentary stories “At the Last Frontier”, “People of the Legendary Feat”, “Yours, Fatherland, Sons”.
I am always surprised by the general's memory. When the 25th anniversary of the Stalingrad victory was celebrated on the banks of the Volga in 1968, more than a hundred former guardsmen of the 13th division came to the battlefields. The general called each of them by name when he met, and with each he had something to remember.
The celebrations in Volgograd have come to an end. We were about to leave the hotel for the station when there was a knock on the door of our room. An elderly, slightly hunched man came in and introduced himself:
Guard private.
The general immediately recognized him - we met in the regiment commanded by I. A. Samchuk.
Former guardsman legendary division, it turns out that for the last four years he has been working on Mamayev Kurgan, where he was once wounded and awarded. He now took part in the creation of the monument on Mamaev, and it fell to his lot to carve the names of his comrades on granite in the Hall of Eternal Glory.
The guardsman took a large jar of jam from his string bag and handed it to the general with the words:
From our guards family.
His new book testifies to how well Rodimtsev knows each of his soldiers. The general writes about ordinary artilleryman Bykov, who distinguished himself in the battles near Kharkov, fought in Stalingrad and died on the Kursk Bulge. The first publications about the Hero of the Soviet Union Bykov caused a response - the hero’s wife, also a former 13th guardsman, was found and reported that the hero’s son was now serving in the army. Rodimtsev went to the Kiev Military District, found a soldier and a soldier’s son, and spoke to the unit with his memories of the father of a conscript soldier.
The book about Bykov is called “They will remain alive.”
And now, when he comes to the troops, the general considers it his duty to call the soldiers, to teach them in such a way that the inflexibility of the defenders of Madrid, Kyiv, Stalingrad, the heroes of the Sandomierz bridgehead and the liberation of Prague is transmitted to them.
SON OF THE FATHERLANDTo the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Soviet commander
IN secondary school No. 26 in Moscow there is a folk museum battle path 13th Guards Rifle Division named after twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev. The exhibits presented in the exhibition are witnesses heroic actions on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, guardsmen of the legendary division commander. Portrait gallery of 28 Heroes of the Soviet Union of the illustrious formation; Scheme of the division’s combat route from Pervomaisk, where the paratroopers met the rumbles of war, to the meeting on the Elbe with American troops and the liberation of the fascist concentration camp in Czechoslovak Terezin on May 12, 1945, where prisoners of many languished European countries; the exhibition halls of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Kursk Bulge, and the Victory Hall are “classrooms” for conducting lessons in courage at school. At the center of the moral and patriotic work of the museum and the Veterans Council is the combat biography of the legendary general, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General A.I. Rodimtsev.
Divisional Commander Rodimtsev. The general's whole life is a legend. The streets and squares of our and foreign cities are named after him. "What was he like?" - they ask the veterans. Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov accurately answered this question: “Rodimtsev was ordinary, like everyone else, and a little extraordinary. Kind to friends and unyielding to the enemies of his people, like all Russian people. Ingenuous and savvy, you can’t fool him around your finger, warm-hearted, simple-minded, and flint, even if you strike fire. Complaisant and proud, if you offend in vain, he will not forgive. This was a national nugget, flesh of his flesh. And it is not surprising that the division commander’s versatility of talent shone when surrounded by strong-willed, persistent, unyielding warriors like himself. Neither he without them, nor they without him.”
He was born in 1905 in the distant Ural village of Sharlyk near Orenburg, into a poor family, in an unprepossessing wooden house, which time had not protected. But the school, a few kilometers from the house where he went skiing to study, has been preserved, and the monument in the central square of the village is proudly venerated by his fellow countrymen. And how can one not preserve such a historical school? After all, two famous patriots of Russia sat at their desks in it - the unbroken poet Musa Jalil, who died in fascist dungeons, and the legendary General Rodimtsev.
As a child, Sasha lost his father. The father, killed by the White Cossacks during the Civil War, left three daughters and a twelve-year-old son orphans. To feed his mother and sisters, Sasha hired out as a farm laborer. He drove horses at night, sitting on the bank of the fast-flowing river Salmysh and dreamed of becoming a cavalryman. Yes, and my first one civil feat committed here, saving the drowning neighbor girl Katerina. It was only later that the nimble little girl turned into a charming beauty and became the wife of her savior.
In 1927, Rodimtsev was drafted into the army. But not into the cavalry, as he dreamed, but into escort troops. For two years, honor by honor, having served his active duty, demobilized with a simple soldier’s backpack, he arrived at the Kazansky railway station in Moscow. To the surprise of many, he successfully passed the exams at the Kremlin Military School. All-Russian Central Executive Committee and was enrolled in the cavalry department. A dream born on the banks of the Ural river Salmysh has come true. He studied well and diligently.
Studying was combined with guard duty. In accordance with strict procedure, the cadets took over at post No. 1 at the Mausoleum on schedule. Two cadets, Rodimtsev and his friend Tsyurupa, also kept watch there. After graduating from college, Alexander was assigned to the 61st Cavalry Regiment as a machine gun platoon commander. The everyday life of army service and the improvement of military skills began. He especially stood out for his machine-gun sniper shooting and repeatedly emerged victorious at regional competitions. Mikhail Sholokhov later wrote about him that Rodimtsev “could have stamped his name on the wall with a machine-gun burst.”
The thirst for knowledge constantly overwhelmed the young officer. He persistently prepared for the Academy. Frunze. I even successfully passed the entrance exams. But I didn't have to study. In the fall of 1936, in one of the inconspicuous mansions near Kropotkinsky metro A fair-haired lieutenant entered, and a shy intellectual in a tie and a wide-brimmed hat came out. The platoon commander, Senior Lieutenant Rodimtsev, was sent to carry out a “special mission” in fighting Spain.
In Madrid, Toledo, Teruel, and Guadalajara, the fair-haired “Captain Pavlito” appeared in the ranks of the international brigades, one of those who “left the hut and went to fight to give the land to the peasants in Grenada.”
For conscientious fulfillment of the task of the Motherland, volunteer internationalist Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner of Battle. In 1937 he was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
He left for Spain as a senior lieutenant and returned as a major, commander of the 61st Cavalry Regiment. We also remembered about the successful entrance exams before leaving on a business trip abroad. After a year of service, he was enrolled as a student at the Military Academy. Frunze. The diploma was the awarding of the rank of colonel and appointment as deputy commander of the 36th Cavalry Division. Peaceful training days were often interrupted by military alarms. He took part in the liberation campaign in Western Belarus, in the Finnish campaign. Then, being with him in a combat situation, the future Marshal G.K. Zhukov and Colonel A.I. Rodimtsev did not know each other. Their front roads will converge later in Stalingrad, on the Kursk Bulge, and the Sandomirov bridgehead. But then, in 1940, the world was uneasy. Germany increased its military power fascist Wehrmacht equipped the troops with the latest equipment and weapons. Tigers and Panthers, improved long-range artillery pieces, rolled off Krupa's factory assembly lines.
Military reforms were also underway in the Red Army. New types of troops were created. Rodimtsev, who had combat experience, was sent to comprehend military specialty paratrooper at the operational department of the Command and Navigation Academy. The archive contains film documents of Colonel Rodimtsev’s training parachute jumps from TB-3. Already in May he was appointed commander of the 5th Airborne Brigade of the 3rd Airborne Corps. From the first days of the war, Rodimtsev’s paratroopers almost never left the battlefield. Operations on the Seim River, Tim, the defense of Kyiv, Pervomaisk, Kirovograd - this was the theater of combat operations of Rodimtsev’s soldiers in the first months of the war. On October 30, 1941, the 3rd Airborne Corps was reorganized into the 87th Rifle Division, and Colonel Rodimtsev was appointed its commander. There was no calm at the front. The rifle division continued the combat chronicle of the paratroopers. Particularly bloody battles took place in the cities of Tim, Pervomaisk, Kirovograd, and Shchigry.
For the courage, bravery, and mass heroism shown in these battles, the 87th Rifle Division was reorganized into the 13th Guards Division on January 19, 1942. And two months later the Order of Lenin appeared on her battle banner. This high award testified to feats of arms guardsmen who continued to crush the enemy. The division commander was assigned military rank Major General.AND AGAIN continuous battles, fights won and lost, successful and tragic. But still, the main tests of the guardsmen lay ahead. Burning Stalingrad awaited them. On the night of September 14, under hurricane artillery fire and air bombing, Rodimtsev's division crossed the Volga and came to the aid of the 62nd Army. It was about these events that Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov wrote in his memoirs: “September 13, 14, 15 were difficult, too difficult days for Stalingrad. A turning point in these difficult and, as at times it seemed, last hours was created by the 13th Guards Division of A.I. Rodimtsev.” For five months, the division's guards held back the onslaught of superior enemy forces, launching counterattacks and inflicting sensitive blows on the Nazis. Legends were formed about the twenty-year-old battalion commander Ivan Isakov, who took the impregnable Mamaev Kurgan. The defense of a four-story building, the “House of Sergeant Pavlov,” has gone down in history forever.
It took the Nazis four weeks to occupy Paris, and the same elite 6th Army of Paulus lacked four months to capture the four-story “Pavlov’s House.”
On February 2, 1943, the surrounded selected 330,000-strong Nazi group was liquidated. A meeting of the winners took place in the city, at which the legendary divisional commander Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev also spoke. Leaving Stalingrad, the guards on a concrete wall, near the very bank of the Volga, wrote the words in large letters: “Here Rodimtsev’s guards stood to the death, by standing we defeated death.” This inscription even today reminds us of an unprecedented feat soldiers, each of whom was a hero.
Almost 60 years after the rally of the winners in Stalingrad, the collection “The Stalingrad Epic” was published. It published declassified documents of the NKVD of the USSR during the war. Under No. 92 of the 3rd UNKVD USSR Central Asia FSB, RF, F14, op.4, d. 777, a report from special officer V. Ilyin is presented. An NKVD officer signaled: “...they are doing strange things to Rodimtsev. They want to belittle him in every possible way, although he, as a hero, goes beyond the scope of an ordinary division commander. Rodimtsev is almost the only unit commander who was not awarded for Stalingrad.”
Yes it is. But Rodimtsev’s guardsmen fought and gave their lives not for awards, not for ranks. 28 Heroes of the Soviet Union appeared in the division. All of them, highly decorated and not holding medals in their hands, did not go into battle under duress, sometimes in bayonet attacks, sometimes in hand-to-hand combat. For them, the call “For the Motherland” was not pathos. This is how they understood their duty when the Fatherland found itself in mortal danger. And it’s even more offensive to listen to the black-diggers of military history who are trying to turn everything upside down, repeating like a spell about the forced-command nature of military exploits. Yes, in the army the order is the law. It must be carried out without discussion. But is it only by order that ours is achieved? a great victory over fascism. Was it by order that Alexander Matrosov covered the embrasure with his body? Was it by order that the pilot Gastello sent a burning attack aircraft to the enemy train? Was it by order that Alexei Maresyev returned to duty on prosthetics and continued to shoot down Hitler’s aces. Was it by order that 16-year-old Masha Borovichenko came to the 13th division and died on the Kursk Bulge, posthumously becoming a Hero of the Soviet Union. The combat biographies of General Rodimtsev, his Stalingrad brothers-in-arms Belsky, Samchuk, Vavilov, Dolgov, Isakov, and other fellow soldiers indicate that, along with military orders, they were guided by a patriotic impulse, filial duty protect native land, parental shelter.
But did the guards really have time for such reasoning back then? They were rushing to the West, to Hitler's lair. After a short respite, Rodimtsev’s Stalingraders were again at the forefront offensive actions Red Army. They participated in all major operations carried out Supreme High Command: Kursk Bulge, Poltava, Kirovograd, Sandomirovsky bridgehead. At the beginning of May 1945, the guards reached the Elbe near the town of Torgau and met with American allied forces. Taking the city of Dresden, they saved the famous Dresden art gallery, which the Nazis hid in salted copies. It was they, the Rodimtsev guards, when the whole world celebrated Victory Day on May 9, who went to the rescue of the rebellious Prague.
They liberated them in Terezin on May 12 fascist concentration camp, where many prisoners languished European countries. It was the doctors of the Guards Division in the liberated concentration camp who delivered the birth of a Hungarian prisoner, naming the newborn girl Vera. And the military general was embarrassed many years later at a government reception, not recognizing the newborn girl Vera in the young beauty. On May 12, 1945, the combat path of Rodimtsev’s guardsmen ended. By the end of the war, the division's Banner had the Order of Lenin, Kutuzov, and the Order of the Red Banner of Battle. Rodimtsev himself became twice Hero of the Soviet Union in June.
The general's post-war service was not easy. However, like other famous military leaders, whose names were widely known not only in our country, but also abroad. One can see the unyielding character of the front-line soldiers, who are not accustomed to bending their hearts, calling everything by their proper names, did not give rest to both home-grown politicians striving for power and military careerists. After the front, Rodimtsev was sent to “serve his time” in patriarchal Tver. Here they tried to either arrest him or simply remove him. One night, people from the organs in sheepskin coats, having cut off the telephone connection, tried to break into the apartment. The general was forced to shoot out the window, calling the guard. Only the guards who came running to the shooting forced the uninvited guests to retreat. Then the general was sent away from Moscow, to the Arctic, then to Siberia, where not far from his new service the tsar’s convict prison, Alexander Central, loomed gloomily.
Then they were sent out of the country altogether, into honorable exile in Albania. However, many famous military leaders experienced such dislike for themselves at that time. Direct, sharp, airy ace, three times Hero of the Soviet Union I.N. Kozhedub, at the age of 58, was sent to honorable retirement, to the group of retired inspectors. Rodimtsev also ended up there. Having walked the fiery roads of war, the general did not harden in soul, his heart was open to those around him. He loved humor and loved people.
It is not surprising that among his friends there were not only military men, but also artists, poets, composers, and scientists. One day, a grandson asked why his family called him a writer. The general responded by reading the young poet’s poems about the past war:
I didn’t know them by sight of all the fallen,
But everyone is my brother by blood.
And everyone missing -
The alarm about the past war.
And he answered his grandson: “It was this alarm that forced me, an eyewitness, to tell the truth about the war in my books. And lovingly, they jokingly call him a writer. I'm a military man." The combat general is the author of seven fiction and non-fiction books published in many foreign languages. His books are on the shelves in libraries in Moscow, Madrid, Berlin, Budapest, and Prague. And after the publication of his story “Mashenka from the Mousetrap” in 1965, the heroine of the book, Maria Borovichenko, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. General before last days considered himself in the military ranks, meeting with young soldiers, participating in the work of veterans' organizations. With his direct participation, the Museum of the Combat Path of the 13th Guards Division was created in a nearby school, which is still actively working, engaged in the moral and patriotic education of youth.
And the meeting with the cadets of the Higher command school them. The Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR was the last. A fatal absurdity, a car accident on the school grounds turned out to be fatal. Doctors were powerless to save the veteran's life.
On April 13, 1977, he passed away. He is buried with military honors at the Novodevichy cemetery. In Moscow, on the house where the general lived, there is a Memorial plaque. The streets and squares of many cities are named after him. In honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary general, the country's Minister of Defense took part in the laying of a monument to Rodimtsev in Orenburg, in the Urals, where the biography of the glorious patriot of Russia began.
On the eve of Victory Day, we present to our readers a story about the fate of one of the main heroes of the turning point for the war, the Battle of Stalingrad, Colonel General Alexander Rodimtsev, twice Hero of the Soviet Union.
“In those days seventy years ago, the fate of our Fatherland was decided. In Volgograd, on a steep bank, there is still an inscription on concrete slabs: “Here Rodimtsev’s guards fought to the death.”
One day to this memorial place we came with Natasha Rodimtseva, the general’s daughter. Natasha told me: “After my father left, there was such pain and emptiness in my soul. I found solace in the fact that I began to collect memories of him. I met with those who fought with my father.”
We have known each other for a long time. I've been to their house. It so happened that Colonel General A.I. Rodimtsev gave me the last interview in his life.
And Natasha, all her life, with unusual energy, tried to visit where her father fought, carefully preserving every testimony about him - even if it was just an episode, one line.
From the memoirs of German Colonel Adam: “On September 12, 1942, General Paulus was summoned to Hitler’s headquarters in Vinnitsa. Paulus reported on the upcoming capture of Stalingrad. After the report, Hitler casually rolled up the map of Stalingrad, saying: “Everything has already been done. The Red Army is defeated and will not be able to defend the city.”
During these very days, on the left bank of the Volga in the copses, regiments of the 13th Guards Division, commanded by General A.I., secretly approached the river. Rodimtsev. On the night of September 15, the crossing began. At that time, the Germans had already reached the banks of the Volga in the central part of the city. The enemy fired at the crossing from guns and mortars. The river was boiling with explosions. Rodimtsev's guardsmen had to cross the Volga under enemy fire. The explosions sank boats and barges. Hundreds of soldiers died in the leaden waters of the river. And those who swam to the right bank, jumping from barges, entered into battle.
Subsequently, Rodimtsev recalled: “German planes flew over our heads. The walls of houses collapsed, iron warped. Clouds of smoke and dust hurt my eyes. We had to advance in this deadly hell to drive the Germans away from the Volga and occupy the coastal streets.”
Lines from combat reports from the first days of fighting: “Lieutenant Shibanov with a group of fighters, having killed the German gun crew, captured the cannon and turned it against the advancing enemy. Red Army soldier Malkov destroyed an approaching tank with a bunch of grenades. Senior Sergeant Dynkin made his way through the ruins to the street occupied by the Germans, climbed into the attic, and from the window destroyed the crew of a German machine gun that was blocking the path of the advancing company.” The guards took every inch of land in battle.
From the memoirs of Marshal G.K. Zhukov “September 13, 14, 15, 1942 were difficult, too difficult days for the Stalingrad residents.
The enemy, step by step, broke through the ruins of the city to the Volga. The turning point in these difficult and, as at times it seemed, final hours was created by the 13th Guards Division A.I. Rodimtseva. Her blow was completely unexpected for the enemy.”
For us, these are pages of history. For Natasha Rodimtseva, documents and memories of veterans are news about her father from the distant past. She visited his home village of Sharlyk, Orenburg region. I also found those who once called her father simply – Sanek. The Rodimtsev family lived on the outskirts of the village. Their street, where poor families lived, was called Otorvanovka.
The village recalled such an incident. One day Sanek did not come to school. What's happened? It turned out that the bast shoes were worn out. Teacher Vera Afinogenovna brought him new ones. As a child, he was 13 years old, Alexander had already experienced the cruelty of the civil war. In front of the entire village, his father was beaten to death with whips by Dutov Cossacks. Sanya became the breadwinner of the family. He was an apprentice to a shoemaker. He took on any job. And at the age of 22 he appeared before the draft board. Could he have thought then that he would become a twice Hero of the Soviet Union, and his bust would be installed in the center of his native village?!
After graduating conscript service, Alexander Rodimtsev submits a report: he has decided to seriously study military affairs. He was accepted into the Kremlin Cadets School, from which many officers would later emerge, who later became generals and even marshals.
Natasha remembers how Alexander Ilyich loved the poems of Konstantin Simonov! Especially - “The Spanish record is spinning.” This is a memory of Spain. In 1936, he told his wife Catherine that he was being sent on a business trip to “help with the harvest in Mongolia,” but in fact he went to Spain, where the Civil War. He becomes one of the advisers in parts of the Republican army. Here he is called Captain Pavlito.
Subsequently, while looking for materials about her father’s military biography, Natasha Rodimtseva will read the memoirs of the writer Maria Fortus, who became the prototype for the heroine of the film “Salute, Maria.”
Maria Fortus was a translator and knew Alexander Ilyich personally. Just one episode from her memories: “Once Sasha Rodimtsev and I were on command post brigades. Commander Enrique Lister suddenly saw that the tanks supporting the brigade had somehow changed direction. There was no contact with them. This was a dangerous moment in the battle. Sasha Rodimtsev rushed into the car and rushed towards the tank column. Explosions were heard throughout the field. We saw him drive up to the lead tank, jump on the armor and bang on the hatch. He gave the order to the tank platoon commander. When he returned, we saw holes in his leather jacket. And he himself seemed to be under a spell. He was a brave man."
Marshal K.A. Meretskov, who fought in Spain, wrote about Rodimtsev: “I often saw him in battle and was able to appreciate his qualities. It happened more than once that in the most difficult situations he was able to turn the tide of the battle and achieve victory.”
In 1937 A.I. Rodimtsev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
And again - study. Rodimtsev was admitted to the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. Books, maps, diagrams. The former village boy understood how much he had to learn. In Stalingrad, General Rodimtsev was 37 years old. He fought in Ukraine, defended Kyiv, broke out of encirclement, saving people and weapons. In 1942 for liberation Kursk city Tim his division was awarded the rank of Guards.
...The bank of the Volga, pitted with dugouts and dugouts. In one of them is Rodimtsev’s headquarters. The front edge is only 200 meters away. Oath of the guards: “There is no land for us beyond the Volga!”
Years will pass, and the topic of the defense of Stalingrad will turn out to be controversial. There will be a lot of speculation about who fought on the Volga then, showing resilience that amazed the world. There will be writers who will give a simple answer. The whole point, they say, is that penal battalions fought on the Volga bank. And this bike will go around the world. But only in Stalingrad it was a completely different story.
Airborne corps, the elite troops of the Red Army, were sent to the Volga. Warriors were selected for each company, just as they are now for special forces. Division A.I. Rodimtseva, former 3rd Airborne Corps, was the first to arrive in Stalingrad. Soon, several more airborne corps will be transferred to the Volga, which will take up defensive positions in the city. Many thousands then laid down their lives in battles on the streets of Stalingrad.
In an interview with A.I. Rodimtsev told me: “After the war, I was often asked how could we hold on to the last line, when there were 200-300 meters left to the Volga? The paratroopers underwent special training. They were psychologically prepared to fight behind enemy lines, to fight in complete encirclement. The fighters owned not only all types small arms, but they also knew how to conduct reconnaissance and knew the sapper business.”
Now it’s even difficult to imagine with what excitement people waited for every message about the battle in Stalingrad. To win on the Volga, “above-plan accounts” were opened at the factories by teams that produced military equipment. Named after Stalingrad partisan detachments. Residents collected funds to buy tanks and airplanes, and donated their savings and valuables to the “common pot.” In many countries of the world, people waited with hope and anxiety for messages from the Volga stronghold.
Princess Z.A. told me in Paris. Shakhovskaya, an emigrant who became a member of the Resistance, how they listened on the radio at night to news about the battles in Stalingrad, wrote leaflets by hand in support of our soldiers and, risking their lives, pasted them on the houses of Parisians.
The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda wrote about Stalingrad: “A sailor in the middle of an angry sea is looking for one star in the sky - the star of a burning city.”
The name of General A.I. Rodimtsev was often heard in Sovinformburo reports. Journalists who visited the fighting of Stalingrad called him: General-Courage.
…I remember how, together with Natasha Rodimtseva, we stood for a long time at the legendary Pavlov’s House, now famous throughout the world. Now they offer excursions to him. General Rodimtsev's guardsmen fought in this house. This is what Alexander Ilyich told me about this: “Once at the end of September 1942, we spent a long time watching a four-story building that blocked the square from us. The Germans fired from it. But we didn’t know how many there were in the house. I ordered a group of scouts to be sent to the house, led by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov.
Having made their way into the entrance of the house at night, the scouts heard German speech and the clanging of metal. A night fight in a building is the hardest fight. Flair, resourcefulness, and courage decide its outcome. In the morning, a report came from Pavlov that they had knocked out the Germans. We sent reinforcements to the house - armor-piercing men, machine gunners, snipers, mortar men. At night, the soldiers dug a ditch to the Volga, along which they delivered ammunition and food. Of course, we did not specifically select the garrison according to national composition. But here, shoulder to shoulder, Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Belarusians, Georgians, Jews, Uzbeks, Kazakhs fought... No one counted how many attacks the defenders of this house withstood, but the Germans were unable to take it until the very end of the Stalingrad battles.”
The feat of this garrison went down in history. The House of Pavlov fought for 58 days. This is more than the defending troops of some European states.
However, Pavlov's House became famous not because it was the only one. It was typical in those conditions strong point defense The mill buildings, the open-hearth shop, and the elevator became the same fortresses in Stalingrad.
General Rodimtsev often visited this house. From here it was most convenient to observe the leading edge. He described this soldier’s fortress this way: “The windows were turned into embrasures, covered with bricks and heating radiators. Below them are ready cartridges, grenades, and machine gun belts. The garrison occupied a perimeter defense. In the corner of one of the rooms I saw a samovar. The concentrates were diluted with boiling water.”
Many events in Stalingrad remained an unhealed wound in his soul,” Alexander Ilyich told me. This was for him the memory of the defenders of the city station, which became the Brest Fortress for his division. One of the best battalions fought there, commanded by Senior Lieutenant F.G. Fedoseev. They were surrounded. We went out to the station square German tanks. The forces were not equal. Lieutenant Kolebanov wrote a note: “Let the whole country know that we did not retreat. As long as we are alive, the Germans will not pass through.” At this price the order was carried out in Stalingrad: “Not a step back!” “I remember how a wounded, exhausted soldier crawled onto the bank of the Volga. He said that all the defenders of the station died,” Rodimtsev told me with pain, many years later.
The German general Derr wrote: “For every house, workshop, water tower, railway embankment there was a fierce struggle that had no equal. The Russians were superior to the Germans in using the terrain, were more experienced in fighting for individual houses, and they took up a strong defense.”
...And again I can’t help but say about the general’s daughter. About the spiritual generosity she bestows on surviving veterans. Machine gunner Ilya Voronov fought in Pavlov’s house. When the fighters went on the offensive, he was showered with shrapnel - more than twenty wounds. Legs are broken and left hand. And this crippled man found the strength to throw grenades, pulling out the pin with his teeth... Natasha found the veteran. He lived in the village of Glinka Oryol region. And here is one of their meetings.
“Ilya Vasilyevich wrote that he was coming from the south through Moscow. I run into the building Kursky railway station. How can I find it here? Please announce on the radio. Nobody comes. I'm looking for a train that goes to Orel, I don't know the car number. I decided to comb all the cars, starting with the tail one. I ask the conductors. “Do you have a veteran on crutches?” Finally I see - here he is, Ilya Voronov. He is happy, and I am even more happy. He respectfully introduces me to his neighbor: “The daughter of my commander Rodimtsev,” and adds joyfully. “I knew she would come.”
One of the streets in Volgograd is named after Ilya Voronov.
But here are the moments of victory in Stalingrad, as General A.I. described them. Rodimtsev. Months of street fighting were left behind: “On the morning of January 26, 1943, the field telephone rang. Regimental commander Panikhin, who was on the slopes of Mamayev Kurgan, reported: “Strong artillery fire can be heard from the west.” We understand what this means. By that time German group Paulusa was completely surrounded.
Every day the ring around the enemy tightened. The troops of the Don Front were approaching us from the west, from the Volga steppes. For us, who were defending on the last patches of land above the Volga, this news was a holiday. And it had to happen that P.I.’s army came to our site. Batov, with whom I became friends back in Spain! I ordered an immediate move to join the advancing troops. At about nine o'clock in the morning we saw snowy haze silhouettes of T-34 tanks. What started here! People ran towards each other knee-deep in snow. Victory!
We experienced so much in Stalingrad that it seemed to me that the happiest day of my life had come. At the meeting place of the two fronts that same day, we decided to permanently install a tank, on the armor of which was written: “Chelyabinsk collective farmer.” This was the first monument erected in Stalingrad.”
After Stalingrad, General Rodimtsev became the commander of the 32nd Guards Rifle Corps, fought on the Kursk Bulge, participated in the liberation of Ukraine and Poland, crossed the Oder, took Dresden, and ended the war in Prague. In 1945 he became twice Hero of the Soviet Union.
Even during the life of A.I. Rodimtsev, a museum dedicated to the heroic 13th Guards Rifle Division opened in Moscow school No. 26.
Participating in its creation were: total two thousand people - veterans, teachers, schoolchildren and their parents. The display cases contain valuable historical materials: photographs, front letters, handwritten memoirs, books. On the walls are portraits of heroes. Courage lessons are held here and excursions are held for other schools. Natasha Rodimtseva became deputy chairman of the division's Veterans Council and director of the school museum.
For many years she collected memories and documents, and the book “My Father General Rodimtsev” naturally came into being; the entire edition was immediately donated to museums, veterans, and friends. However, every time we meet with Natasha, she enthusiastically talks about what new materials she has found about her father and his fellow soldiers and repeats: “There is still so much work!”
Again, she, who has not seen the war, mentally crosses that fiery line, beyond which there is the roar of explosions and the whistling of bullets. The farther away, the more boundless this road seems to her...”
In contact with
Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev(March 8, 1905 - April 13, 1977) - Soviet military leader, Colonel General (May 9, 1961). Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1937, 1945). Commander of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, which particularly distinguished itself in the Battle of Stalingrad (07/17/1942 - 02/02/1943).
Biography
Born on March 8, 1905 in the village of Sharlyk (now Sharlyk district, Orenburg region) into a poor peasant family. Russian. Member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU since 1929. In the Red Army since 1927. In 1932 he graduated from the Military School named after the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Participated in the Spanish Civil War.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Major Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev on October 22, 1937 for exemplary performance of a special task in Spain.
Participated in Polish campaign Red Army.
In 1939 he graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. In 1940 he took part in the Soviet-Finnish war.
During the Great Patriotic War, A.I. Rodimtsev commanded the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Airborne Corps (5th, 6th, 212th Airborne Brigade), which in 1941 took part in the defense of Kyiv. On November 6, 1941, the control of the 5th Airborne Brigade was deployed to the control of the 87th Infantry Division, created from the troops of the 3rd Airborne Brigade, which was headed by Rodimtsev. On January 19, 1942, the 87th Rifle Division was reorganized into the 13th Guards Rifle Division. Major General (May 21, 1942). The 13th Guards Rifle Division (later the 13th Poltava Order of Lenin twice Red Banner Guards Rifle Division) became part of the 62nd Army, which heroically defended Stalingrad.
Since 1943, Rodimtsev was the commander of the 32nd Guards Rifle Corps, with whom he reached the capital of Czechoslovakia - Prague. Lieutenant General (January 17, 1944).
The second Gold Star medal was awarded to the commander of the 32nd Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Rodimtsev, on June 2, 1945 for skillful leadership of troops during the crossing of the Oder River on January 25, 1945 in the area settlement Linden (Poland), personal heroism and courage.
After the war, he graduated from the Higher Academic Courses at the Academy of the General Staff. He was a formation commander, assistant district commander, chief military adviser and military attaché in Albania. Since 1956 he served in the army, first deputy commander of the Northern Military District. He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Since 1966 - in the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defense.
Honorary citizen of the cities of Volgograd, Kropyvnytskyi and Poltava. He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the second convocation and as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the third convocation.
A. I. Rodimtsev died in Moscow on April 13, 1977. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery (section 9).
Family
Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev has been married to Ekaterina Rodimtseva (Sheina) since 1933. Ekaterina and Alexander come from the same village and were childhood friends. The couple had children:
Rodimtseva Irina Aleksandrovna (born January 2, 1934, Moscow) - director State Museum-Reserve“Moscow Kremlin” (1987-2001), corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts (1997), Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1989), president of the National Committee of Museums of the Russian Federation at UNESCO; in 1956 she graduated from the Faculty of History of Moscow State University; worked in the museums of the Moscow Kremlin, was the head of the Armory Chamber; in 1979-1987 - head of the Museums Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Culture; has state awards.
Matyukhina (Rodimtseva) Natalya Aleksandrovna - heads the museum of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, is engaged in preserving the memory of her father and the soldiers of the division. Lives in Moscow.
Rodimtsev Ilya Aleksandrovich is an economist by profession. Lives in Moscow.
Essays
- "Under the sky of Spain."
- "On the last frontier."
- "People of legendary feat."
- "The guards fought to the death."
- Rodimtsev A.I. Yours, Fatherland, sons. Literary record of Peter Severov. - Kyiv, Politizdat of Ukraine, 1982.
- "Mashenka from the Mousetrap."
Ilya Alexandrovich Rodimtsev
General Rodimtsev. Survived three wars
© Rodimtsev I.A., 2016
© Veche Publishing House LLC, 2016
© Veche Publishing House LLC, electronic version, 2016
Publishing house website www.veche.ru
introduction
Dear reader!
The book “General Rodimtsev. Who has survived three wars" tells about the life and fate of one of the famous military leaders of our Fatherland, a participant greatest battles XX century. Colonel General Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev, born into a poor peasant family in the Urals, managed to find his way to military profession, to whose service he devoted his entire life, becoming one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union in the country, and in the victorious year of 1945 he was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero for the second time.
The author of the book is Ilya Aleksandrovich Rodimtsev, the son of General A.I. Rodimtseva, candidate economic sciences, specialist in the field of global economics and foreign economic relations. For a long time he has been engaged in military-patriotic activities, collecting materials and documents about the biography and military path of his father and the formations commanded by A.I. Rodimtsev, as well as about the history of the Great Patriotic War, having published several articles on this topic.
Ilya Rodimtsev talks about the fate of his father, whose life and military service cover many dramatic events that occurred in the last century both in our country and abroad. Having lost his father during the revolution, having endured poverty and labor during difficult years, Alexander Rodimtsev joined the ranks of the Red Army. Graduate of the Higher Military School named after. All-Russian Central Executive Committee, one of the glorious galaxy of “Kremlin cadets”, in his short period of service he proved himself to be a competent commander and an excellent machine gunner.
In 1936, he volunteered to go to Spain, where he fought in the ranks of the Republican Army against Franco rebels, German and Italian fascists. Section of the book dedicated to the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, which left a deep mark on modern history Europe, based on the memoirs of Alexander Rodimtsev and many other participants in these events, is of undoubted interest for everyone who is interested in military-historical topics.
Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev went through the Great Patriotic War from the first to the last days, knowing the bitterness of retreat and the joy of great victories. A special page of his combat biography was his participation in the Battle of Stalingrad, during which he commanded the 13th Guards Rifle Division, which saved Stalingrad during the most difficult, critical period of the fighting in mid-September 1942. Rodimtsev’s guards liberated the city center from the Nazis and stormed Mamayev Kurgan and for 140 days - until the end of the battle - they held their positions, preventing the enemy from breaking through to the Volga.
General A.I. Rodimtsev proved himself to be a talented and courageous military leader, commanding troops in many major military operations - on the Kursk Bulge, Ukraine, the Sandomierz bridgehead on the river. Vistula in Poland, in Germany, during the liberation of Dresden and Prague. After the war, Alexander Ilyich continued to serve in various parts of our country and abroad, strengthening the defense capability of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact states.
From the book, the reader will learn many new or little-known, as well as dramatic episodes of the military path and facts from the biography of General A.I. Rodimtseva. Many pages are devoted to the story of what Alexander Ilyich was like in the family, how he participated in public life, about numerous meetings and live connections with fellow soldiers who highly valued and loved their commander. The reader is presented with a living image of an original personality, a patriot of his country, a military professional who managed to clearly express himself in the literary field, devoting his works to perpetuating the memory of the feats of his soldiers and commanders.
While working on the book, Ilya Rodimtsev studied a large number of unique archival and other documents, written testimonies of participants in the fateful events of the era in which his father happened to live and fight. The author makes extensive use of memories collected at different times about his father from people with whom he was friends, and those who were his commanders and fellow soldiers - from marshals to ordinary soldiers. The photographs presented in the book, many of which are published for the first time, allow you to more fully perceive the picture of military operations and public life of the country, to better understand the character and scale of the personality of the twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General A.I. Rodimtsev, a legendary representative of the generation of winners.
Presenting a book that is rare in its genre - a son about his father, I hope that it will be appreciated both by readers interested in the military history of our Motherland, and by everyone who cherishes the memory of its heroes, of whom we have the right to be proud.
Head of the Center for Military History of Russia
Institute Russian history RAS,
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences G.A. Kumanev
Preface
Father... A simple and understandable word for everyone. For every person it means a lot in life. Pronounced mentally or out loud, it immediately evokes in us a special and unique world of feelings, memories, and emotions. It is generally accepted that the most important and dearest word a person has for at least most of his life is the word “mother”. It's hard to argue with this; it may be true. Of course, along with the word “mom” we also pronounce “dad”. But most people begin to use the word “father” in adulthood. This amazing transformation of words occurs by itself and even seems natural. Sometimes it happens after the person who can be called by this word is no longer around... For example, this is exactly what happened to me.
I was born on next year after the war. The post-war generation... How many people my age were! When we went to school, there were not enough teachers, classes, textbooks and much more for us. But what did these difficulties mean compared to the joy of our mothers and fathers! Most of us were children of those who were destined to return from the most brutal war in human history. But exactly happy childhood their children and was one of the facets of that dream of a peaceful life that protected and led all the front-line soldiers and our mothers who were waiting for them. And they raised a new generation.
I was very lucky with my father. Not only because thanks to him, unlike many of my peers, I had no need and had everything to grow, learn, and develop normally.
I was lucky enough to be the son of a very famous man in our country. But national fame, and especially love, does not come to everyone, and certainly does not happen by chance, especially in such a huge country as ours, where at all times there have been many talented and brave people.
Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I perceived my father as it happens in any normal family - this was my dad: kind, caring, neat, collected, sitting well on him. military uniform, in an overcoat and a hat in winter, and on holidays - in a ceremonial uniform with a full chest of orders and two small but very bright stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
I saw with what respect and even genuine interest many of those with whom he interacted treated my father. I began to understand the reason for this when, already as a teenager, I began to read books about the war. But I got a true idea of the scale of my father’s personality, that he is a historical figure widely known in our country, after he wrote his first book of memoirs. I was greatly impressed not only by his military biography, but also by the reaction of readers. Packs of letters began to arrive to my father: fellow soldiers wrote to him who dreamed of meeting him and their comrades, people from different cities of the Soviet Union - who remembered their father or were looking for their relatives, school and university students, military school cadets and museum employees. It was during that period – in the early 60s of the last century – that the veteran movement was rapidly gaining strength. The memory of what they experienced in the war, of their fellow soldiers, called the participants of the Great Patriotic War to the battlefields, to meet with their fiery youth, to the graves of their fallen comrades.
I was lucky enough to travel with my father to many places where he fought, to meet veterans of the formations he commanded. Communication with these people, sincere and selfless, who managed to preserve front-line camaraderie and mutual assistance throughout their lives, the memory of heavy battles, about those who did not return from the war, opened up a world for me that I did not know. People who accomplished feats and went through great trials did not at all consider themselves heroes; they, in their words, “simply fought.” It was during such meetings that I realized how important the opinion of their commander, his books, in which they saw their names, the names of their units, were for them. They were proud to have fought under his command and sincerely expressed their feelings for him. They were grateful to their general for the fact that now in the homeland of each of them they learned about how they fought, what they did to defeat the enemy.