Aleksey Proshlyakov — Marshal of the USSR is one of the commanders who brought victory over fascist Germany. From the first days of the war, his units opposed the invaders.
Throughout his life, the marshal participated in three wars in which he showed both personal courage and the ability to make brilliant strategic decisions, for which he was awarded the
star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.Alexei Proshlyakov (Marshal): biography
Alexey Ivanovich was born on February 18, 1901 in the territory of modern Ryazan region. From an early age he worked hard, helping parents. At the age of sixteen, he enters seminary, where he studies as a teacher. But the wind of change swept over the young man’s warm heart and he volunteered for the Red Army to fight the enemies of the Soviets. In the twenty-first year, he fought in the east as a company commander.
After returning from the front, he joins the Communist Party. Five years later, begins service in the engineering troops. Supervises the regimental school. Then serves on the territory of Belarus. Combines service with training. He is studying both military strategy and the technical details of new types of engineering structures. By the thirty-eighth year he is promoted to chief of staff.
The liberation campaign of the Red Army
A year later, his unit received an order for the urgent formation of the fourth army. Aleksey Proshlyakov was appointed commander of engineering groups (the marshal later wrote that this was a fateful decision). As part of the new compound, his fighters participate in the Polish campaign of the Red Army. A few kilometers from the troops of the Wehrmacht, they occupy western Belarus.
After the accession of new territories, Proshlyakova was instructed to immediately take up the arrangement of protective lines on the western border. In this area there were practically no stable lines of defense, so the Red Army men had to erect them in a hurry. In particular, Proshlyakov was engaged in the construction of the Brest fortified area.
The beginning of World War II
With the beginning of World War II, the Nazi hammer hit hardest in the region of western Belarus, where Proshlyakov was located. Marshal described these days as one of the most difficult in life. Under constant bombardment, in the confusion of retreat and panic, he had to quickly create new lines of defense. In a record short time, they managed to organize the defense of Mogilev, thanks to which the Nazis got stuck here for a long time.
Nevertheless, superior enemy forces invariably pressed the Red Army and they had to retreat. Alexei Proshlyakov took up the defense of the capital. In the battle for Moscow, his unit was distinguished by exceptional courage. After that, engineering troops erected a line of defense around Tula, which the Nazis never managed to break through during all the years of the war.
Decisive battles
In the forty-second Alexei transferred to the south, where he commands the engineering forces of the Stalingrad Front. Konstantin Rokossovsky personally noted the general as one of the best. Therefore, almost the entire war kept him with him. With the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, a new deputy headquarters commander was appointed - Alexei Proshlyakov (Marshal). He described interesting facts about one of the most bloody battles in the history of mankind in his memoirs. In the conditions of constant bombing and terrible cold, his fighters had to deliver ammunition and fuel and lubricants to the front line. The defense of the city was also hampered by its almost complete destruction.
For action, special strike groups were formed within the boundaries of Stalingrad, which included sappers, arrows and flamethrowers. This strategy has shown its positive side in the first days of application.
It is noteworthy that in almost all the decisive battles of the Great Patriotic War, Proshlyakov led the engineering operations, the Marshal of Victory was engaged in strategic planning of the battle of Kursk, the battle of the Dnieper and many others. His troops provided the Red Army during the crossing of the Oder and the invasion of Pomerania.
In the most difficult conditions of the assault on Berlin, Proshlyakov led several directions at once. A few days after the Victory, for these merits he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
After the war
At the end of World War II, the Marshal worked in the commissariat of the Red Army. Inspected the engineering troops. For a long time he served as deputy commander in chief of the Soviet troops in the German Democratic Republic. He graduated from the higher academic courses of command in Moscow.
Alexei Proshlyakov, Marshal of Victory, lived in the usual village of Trudovaya-Severnaya, where in the forty-fifth year he was allocated a plot of land. During his stay there, he read a lot and wrote memoirs. In the sixty-fifth year, he became a military inspector and adviser to a group of inspectors general of the USSR.
On December 12, Alexei Proshlyakov (Marshal) died in Moscow. A photo of the hero of the USSR was published on the front pages of many newspapers.