In the great history of Russia there are names and events that are the most striking examples of the Russian mentality, which is based on love of the homeland. Gorky is right - there is always a place for a feat, but at the moment of testing, everyone is given the opportunity to accomplish it in the name of the Motherland. General Dovator, Karbyshev, Matrosov soldier, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Panfilov’s heroes, young “Krasnodonians” - these are people who gave their lives for their homeland. Their exploits are evidence of the invincibility of our army and the inflexibility of the Russian character.
Distortion of historical facts
General Dovator is the last hero commander in the long and glorious history of the cavalry. At the beginning of Perestroika, which opened the broad road of permissiveness, including the frenzied desecration of historical memory, it was written that the Red Army had nothing to oppose to the mechanized Reich, except for the outdated cavalry.
Everything was called into question, the facts were distorted, the exploits of the Russian soldiers were spat upon and ridiculed. Thank God, times have changed - to love Russia, to be proud of its history is again considered a worthy and noble cause.
True heroes are needed in modern Russia
Archived documents that were previously closed become accessible, as a result of which interesting facts are revealed, or previously known to a small circle are now adequately and favorably presented. For example, the fact that General Dovator did not just command the horse army, but was an excellent rider and master of horseback riding. Thanks to these skills, he replaced Nikolai Cherkasov in the film “Alexander Nevsky” in equestrian scenes. A brilliant Russian officer, smart and handsome, he does not look like a "cardboard fool", rushing in a miserable madness on the "mechanized Reich." Moreover, there are official documents that provide data on the number of enemy vehicles destroyed by his Cossacks during raids on enemy rear lines. The “blonde beasts” were afraid of him until they fainted, and a price of 100 thousand Reichsmarks was set for his head.
The one who really was nothing, but became everything
Who is he, General Dovator? The legendary hero died early, but his life was bright, interesting and eventful. Despite the fact that he was born into a poor Belarusian peasant family (1903), Lev Mikhailovich first graduated from the parish school and the second-level school. Soon after entering the flax spinning mill, he was elected secretary of the Komsomol committee and, as a promising person on this path, was sent (and successfully completed) to a concurrent school. The future general Dovator, whose biography will now be inextricably linked with the armed forces, is called up for military service in 1924.
The right road
Occupying a purely economic position at first - as a manager (headquarters of the 7th Cavalry Division in Minsk), Lev Mikhailovich undergoes training at the Military Chemical Courses, which gives him the right to become a commander of a chemical platoon division. Further, the future General Dovator, whose biography is inextricably linked with permanent education, graduates from the Borisoglebsko-Leningrad cavalry school under the command of the Red Army. Then for several years (from 1929 to 1936) career growth was observed in his biography - a promising platoon commander as a result became the commissar of a separate intelligence battalion. From this post he was taken to the Frunze Military Academy, whose graduates at that time, as a rule, were sent for an internship in Spain. Judging by the nickname "Forester" he received there, Lev Mikhailovich was in the group of S. A. Vaupshasov, or "Comrade Alfred."
Cavalry restructuring
According to some researchers, it was there that L. M. Dovator studied the tactics of combat by the Moroccan cavalry, who fought on the side of the Franco and achieved significant success. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the "fast", as these supporters of Franco called themselves, the cavalry units were made by motorized infantry, motorcycles with machine guns and armored vehicles. Only in such a composition could cavalry be an effective force. There was no longer any place for heavy cavalry in a maneuvering war. There is an assumption that the disbandment of such corps in the Red Army is associated with the return of Dovator from Spain.
The beginning of a brilliant career as a military leader
In 1939, the future general Lev Dovator graduated with honors from the Academy. Frunze. A brilliant career opens before him. Since November 1939, he becomes the chief of staff of the 36th Special Cavalry Red Banner Order of Lenin Brigade named after Stalin MBO, a worthy successor to the glory and traditions of the First Horse Army. According to some rumors, she was "Kremlin". Like it or not, but the brigade was in sight, almost daily it was visited by representatives of the authorities, many of whom came from the First Horse. An especially frequent guest was Vasily Stalin, a great horse lover. Visits of distinguished guests forced the demonstration unit to constantly be in shape and in full combat readiness, which was annoying, but also encouraged. In 1940, the future general Lev Mikhailovich Dovator led the cavalry convoy in parades on Red Square.
The reward before the war itself
Before the war itself, in March 1941, L. M. Dovator was awarded the Order of the Red Star. The official wording for which such a high award was given is missing. But there are a number of assumptions, among which the following seems most acceptable. L. M. Dovator, relying on Spanish experience, suggested using cavalry for lightning raids behind enemy lines. In addition, he probably submitted to the leadership of the training camps for the intelligence departments of the military districts, which were held immediately before the war, a proposal for the creation of partisan bases and warehouses with weapons and ammunition in possible occupied territories to a depth of 400 km.
Official version
In March 1941, Dovator received a new appointment, this time to the Belarusian Military District, to the 36th Cavalry Division, to the post of chief of staff. According to the official version, Colonel Dovator met the first days of the war in the hospital, which prevented him from arriving at a new duty station. According to the same version, in August 1941, at a time when the Red Army was retreating and suffered heavy losses, L. M. Dovator was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for defensive battles in the Solovetsky direction.
Indisputable facts
But more meticulous researchers of his biography, comparing some facts, suggest that he received this high award for participating in the first successful test of the M-13 rocket launcher, known worldwide as Katyusha. It happened on July 14, 1941 at the Orsha-Tovarnaya station. Based on the documents, they believe that, according to Stalin's personal order, Colonel Dovator had to break into the headquarters of the 16th Army and, having received tanks and infantry at his disposal, cover Flerov’s battery that fired the very first salvo. Further, provide her with a successful raid on the enemy rear and no less successful return to the territory not occupied by the Nazis.
Who and how destroyed the 52nd German chemical regiment
It is assumed that the 52nd German chemical regiment was destroyed on July 15 near Sitno by the forces at the disposal of Dovator, Mishulin, Kaduchenko. The last two (tankers) simultaneously with the Dovator were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. There is no official confirmation of this version - perhaps the time has not come yet. Captain Flerov, the commander of the M-13 battery, was not awarded at all. And in 1960, he was suddenly introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. There is a very rare photograph in which the future General Dovator (photo attached) smiles - he has just received the Order of the Red Star.
Terrifying the "fearless"
But his main merit in the Great Patriotic War was the legendary raids on the rear of the enemy, carried out by a Separate Cavalry Group, formed from the 50th and 53rd Cavalry Divisions and entered under his command. Here are the statistics: 2,300 (in some sources, 2,500) soldiers and officers, 200 vehicles and 9 tanks were destroyed by followers, among whom were circus performers. Unique masters of jigitovka, they shot the Germans, standing on saddles, or from under the belly of a horse.
Lightning speed, desperate courage and magnificent horse ownership were what terrified the soldiers of the Reich, who effortlessly captured Europe. Heavy fighting in the area of the Bely-Rzhev highway, on the Lama river, in the city of Solnechnogorsk, on the Istra reservoir was restrained by the forces of the Germans at the approaches to Moscow.
Ordered to destroy
In August-September, 3,000 Cossacks under the command of a man of desperate courage terrified the “true Aryans,” every German soldier knew his name near Moscow, leaflets with an award for his head were scattered everywhere. The Germans completely burned his native village in Belarus and created a special military group to destroy him. And the Soviet command for these raids awarded him the rank of major general and awarded the Order of Lenin.
Four awards in six months
Since November, General Dovator commanded the 3rd Cavalry Corps, which was literally a week later transformed into the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps as part of the 16th Army under the command of Rokossovsky, with whom Lev Mikhailovich was associated with a careful attitude to soldiers' lives. Manifesting the miracles of courage, the army of General Dovator, like the Panfilov heroes, stood near the walls of the capital to death. Unwillingness to spare himself, the desperate courage of the Cossack general became the cause of his death. On December 19, in the area of the village of Palashkino, at the moment when L. M. Dovator was using binoculars to examine the enemy’s positions, he and his companions were shot from a machine gun. The legendary commander, named after dozens of streets, ships and buildings, died at the age of 38.
The urn with the ashes of a hero posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was for a long time in a special repository, and only in 1959, together with the urns of Ivan Panfilov and pilot Viktor Talalikhin, was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery in a common grave, on which a beautiful grave was erected in 1966 a monument to these heroes who gave their lives for Moscow and their homeland.