General Georgy Fedorovich Zakharov is one of the most educated military leaders of the Red Army. By the time the Great Patriotic War began, he already had vast experience in service and participation in battles. He commanded companies, battalions, regiments, fronts, armies and military districts. We will talk about how the combat path of the Soviet military leader evolved.
early years
Georgy Zakharov was born on April 23, 1897 in the village of Shilovo, Saratov province. His parents were poor peasants, the family consisted of thirteen people. When George was eleven years old, his father took him to Saratov to study at Sunday school. In parallel with this, the boy worked as an apprentice at a nail factory, then as a packer in a warehouse, then as an assistant in a tailor and shoe workshop. So passed the childhood and youth of the future general.
Zakharov entered the military service in 1915. A year later, he graduated from the ensign school. He was a member of the First World War: with the rank of second lieutenant, he fought on the Western Front and led a half-company.
Interwar period
When Georgy Fedorovich returned to Saratov, he was appointed to command a partisan detachment, and then sent to the Ural Front. Since August 1919, he fought on the Eastern Front with the White Guards, led a rifle company. In 1920 he graduated from infantry courses in Saratov. In one of the battles in the Urals, he was quite seriously injured and was forced to undergo lengthy treatment. After recovering, he went to Vladikavkaz to command a rifle battalion there.
In 1922, Zakharov was seconded to Moscow to study at the Shot courses. He graduated from the first category and in 1923 was appointed commander of the battalion. He was not in this position for long, after which he became the head of the cadet regiment of the Military Kremlin School of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Once, George Ilyich Lenin himself called George Fedorovich and began to take a detailed interest in how students live.
In 1929, Zakharov was appointed commander of the regiment of the Moscow proletarian division and in the same period entered the Red Army Military Academy for the evening course. Upon graduation in 1933, received the post of deputy commander of an infantry division. Since March of the same year at the Military Engineering Academy. Kuybysheva headed the department of tactical and technical management, from May 1935 - the department of engineering support of battles. In 1936, Zakharov was awarded the rank of major, at the same time he was appointed chief of staff of the Leningrad Rifle Corps.
In 1937, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks sent Georgy Fedorovich to study at the Military Academy of the General Staff. Upon its completion in 1939, he received the rank of colonel and became the head of the headquarters of the Ural Military District. He remained in this position until the outbreak of World War II. In June 1940, Zakharov was awarded the title of Major General.
During the Second World War
When the war began, Georgy Fedorovich headed the headquarters of the twenty-second army. Marshal A. Eremenko in his memoirs spoke of him as a very strong-willed person, but rude and quick-tempered. Since August 1941, General Zakharov was the chief of staff of the Bryansk Front, and since October - the commander of the troops of the same front.
In December 1941, he was appointed deputy commander of the Western Front, then he led the headquarters of the North Caucasus and Stalingrad Fronts. According to General S. Ivanov, Georgy Fedorovich was a stern man and more inclined not to staff, but to team work.
In October 1942 - February 1943 General Zakharov was deputy commander of the troops of the Southern and Stalingrad Fronts. His colleagues spoke of him as a smart military leader who did not emphasize his influence, did not infringe on the pride of the soldiers and skillfully prompted if wrong decisions were made.
Since February 1943, Georgy Fedorovich was in the post of commander of the fifty-first army of the Southern Front. As a commander, he took part in the Miuss operation. Then he led the second guard army of the same front, and from July 1944 he moved to the second Belorussian front, where he was commander of the troops. Zakharov stood at the head of the front during the Belarussian and Lomza-Ruzhany offensive operations. At the end of July 1944, he was awarded the rank of army general.
Since November 1944, the military commander commanded the fourth guard army. Lieutenant General I. Anoshin spoke of Georgy Fedorovich as a self-confident person, not without talent and abilities. Since April 1945, Zakharov became deputy commander of the fourth Ukrainian Front and met victory in this position.
Post-war years
After the war, Georgy Fedorovich commanded the troops of the East Siberian and South Ural military districts. In 1950-1953 was the head of the Shot courses. Then he headed the Main Directorate of Ground Forces Training. In 1950-1954 He was a deputy of the Supreme Council of the USSR.
General Zakharov died on January 26, 1957 in Moscow. He was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery in the capital, a grave is decorated with a sculptural composition. Together with Georgy Fedorovich, his wife, Maria Pavlovna, rests.
Awards
Georgy Fedorovich went a long battle path and was awarded many orders and medals. He is the holder of the Order of Lenin; three orders of Suvorov, two of which are of the first degree, and one of the second; Four Orders of the Red Banner. In January 1943, the military leader was awarded the Order of Kutuzov of the first degree. He also has the order of B. Khmelnitsky first degree.
Memory
In May 1975, one of the squares of Sevastopol was named after Zakharov. In 1944, during the liberation of the city from the Nazis, Georgy Fedorovich, in the rank of lieutenant general, commanded the second guard army. Opponents planned to strike on the northern side of Sevastopol and the Perekop Isthmus, but our soldiers, led by Zakharov, managed to break through the fortification on Perekop and be the first to go to the north side. As a result of competent leadership of the army, hostilities ended with the liberation of the city.
Zakharov Square in Sevastopol is located in the Nakhimovsky district, at the passenger berth. Until 1975, it was called the North, and until 1934 it bore the name of O. Schmidt, the head of the expedition of the icebreaker "Chelyuskin."
In April 2010, a commemorative coin was issued in the Republic of Belarus in honor of Georgy Zakharov and the second Belorussian Front. On the banknote is a portrait of a general.