Alexander Egorov was born on October 25, 1883 in the small town of Buzuluk. He was the youngest, fourth child in an ordinary family. Nothing foreshadowed that the boy would make an amazing career and in a completely different country would become a marshal of the Red Army. And yet it happened.
Education
The future Marshal Egorov dreamed of a military career from childhood (moreover, his father was an officer). In 1902, the young man entered the Kazan Infantry Junker School. Studying was easy for a young man. The program included mathematics, Russian, chemistry, physics, the law of God, drawing, a foreign language (Egorov chose French). There were also special military subjects: general tactics, military history, topography, military administration, artillery, a lot of practical exercises, etc. In the workshops, cadets learned the basics of weapons.
Soviet Marshal Yegorov was an outstanding military officer of the tsarist school. The years of his training at the Kazan School saw dramatic events: the Russo-Japanese War and the first revolution that began after Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg. Internal fermentation in the empire could not but affect the mood of the junkers. The school was divided into two groups: monarchists and oppositionists. The future marshal Yegorov also joined the last circle. Many years later, in his autobiography, he noted that since 1904 he shared the views of the Social Revolutionaries.
World War I
Egorovās studies ended in April 1905, when he received the rank of second lieutenant and left to serve in the 13th Erivan Regiment Life Grenadier. The career of an officer was successful. Its course turned upside down after the outbreak of the First World War. With the rank of headquarters captain, future Marshal Yegorov received a baptism of fire in the Battle of Galicia on the Southwestern Front. The first attack with his participation took place on August 13, 1914 in the battle of Busk. The bayonet battle ended with the ousting of two enemy companies.
Unlike many other officers, Egorov tried to protect his soldiers. He did not like desperate and baseless heroism, the only result of which could be a useless death. In the first year of the war alone, the captain received four awards. Later, others joined them: the Order of St. Stanislav of the 2nd degree, as well as the honorary St. George's weapon.
But there were other "awards" that the future Marshal Yegorov was awarded. A military biography would have remained incomplete without mentioning several wounds. In August 1914, two weeks after the outbreak of hostilities in the vicinity of Logivitsa, the officer received a gun bullet that hit his lower leg. The wounded was discharged from the hospital ahead of schedule. In April 1915, near the village of Zarinis, Egorova was heavily shell-shocked by a shell explosion. At that time, he did not stay in the hospital. Then two more concussions followed. The unconscious officer was evacuated to the rear. He still returned to the front, despite the lameness that appeared.
In May 1916, Yegorov was promoted to captain and first sent to the rear for the war. The commander became the commander of the 4th battalion and the 196th infantry reserve regiment, located in Tver.
Towards the revolution
At the end of 1916, a new appointment followed. Egorov began to command the 132nd Bender Infantry Regiment, which occupied a position on the Western Dvina. At that time, Alexander Ilyich was already a lieutenant colonel. In this title, he met the February Revolution. The front was especially sensitive to the news from the rear. The army was tired of fighting and shedding blood in a protracted and unpromising war.
Many soldiers and officers hopefully reached out to politics, expecting the new authorities to quickly lead the country to peace. Marshal Yegorov, who had not yet taken place, was no exception. The military leader (after the February Revolution) officially joined the Social Revolutionaries. It is curious that in the Soviet era, Georgy Zhukov in his letter to Voroshilov recalled how in the autumn of 1917, Alexander Egorov publicly called Vladimir Lenin an adventurer and a German spy.
Go to the Red Army
With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, the country was on the verge of a Civil War. In December 1917, Egorov arrived in Petrograd and joined the Red Army. As an experienced officer, he began to work in the commission for the demobilization and adoption of new personnel. At this stage of his career, Egorov was the right hand of the head of the military department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Avel Enukidze. The old Bolshevik (in the party since 1898) highly appreciated the ability and energy of the young colonel.
In the spring of 1918, Yegorov not only directed the work of the recertification commission (through it, for example, the talented and ambitious tsarist officer Mikhail Tukhachevsky, another of the first five marshals of the USSR), but also negotiated with the Germans about the exchange of prisoners. He also constantly contacted representatives of the Red Cross.
At the head of the 9th army
On August 31, 1918, the future Marshal of the USSR Egorov filed a petition with the request to send him to the army, who fought on the fronts of the Civil War. The day before this episode, Social Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan made an unsuccessful attempt on Lenin. A shot near the Michelson factory led to the outbreak of terror against her party. Egorov himself broke with the Socialist-Revolutionaries in July, and the field joined the RCP (B.). He was lucky to āchange courseā shortly before belonging to the socialist revolutionaries could end in disgrace and death. However, the Socialist Revolutionary past of the military came back to him much later, when in the 30s Stalin began total purges in the Red Army.
In August 1918, Yegorov was appointed commander of the 9th Army, operating on the Southern Front. It was located on the Kamyshin-Novokhopersk section and repelled the blows of General Krasnov. While the officer received the long-awaited appointment, White cut the Balashov Railway. With such an unimportant state of affairs, the future Marshal Yegorov faced. The military biography was already full of various operations on the fronts of the First World War, so the commander, not a bit confused, set about restoring the status quo.
The main task of Egorov was the complete restructuring of the 9th Army. In a short time, thanks to his own energy and perseverance, he managed to create a new combat-ready large force out of this formation. Active actions began in the Sebryakovo and Filonov directions. Thanks to the help of the 9th Army, Tsaritsynās defenders were able to defend this strategically important city.
Save Tsaritsyn
In October, the commander became seriously ill, and he had to stay in the hospital for two months. In the ward, he accepted a new appointment. The 10th Army became the new tactical unit led by Marshal Egorov. Ranks replaced each other one after another, but in each new place the military invariably laid out his own maximum. Now he faced a new serious task - to save Tsaritsyn, who again found himself in the hands of whites.
On December 19, 1918, the cured Yegorov went to the front. While the commander was in the hospital, his place was temporarily occupied by Nikolai Khudyakov (also later executed). In Tsaritsyn, things were extremely bad. Not a single enterprise worked (except for the gun factory). The city party organization mobilized 5 thousand people, but human strength was still lacking. The fighting went right on the outskirts. Railroad tracks, streets and factories were constantly fired upon. On January 19, 1919, the White Guards tried to cross the Volga on ice and thereby completely encircle the city.
Egorov set about organizing a counterattack. The cavalry division under the command of Boris Dumenko played a key role in it. On January 22, a raid began, the main purpose of which was to break through the front and walk through the rear of the whites. In the first battle near the village of Straight Beam, the Reds defeated five enemy cavalry regiments. I managed to break into Davydovka. On January 28, Marshal Yegorov arrived there. The awards that he received in the tsarist era were completely deserved. He managed to achieve a turning point in the battle for Tsaritsyn. In Davydovka, Egorov met with Budyonny, replacing Dumenko, who was seriously ill.
Injury and return to duty
On April 4, 1919, Lenin sent a telegram addressed to Yegorov, in which he congratulated the heroes of the 10th army on their successes in the winter campaign. Meanwhile, Denikinās army intensified in the south, and Kolchakās offensive began in the east. These maneuvers practically nullified the results of the Red Army near Tsaritsyn. In May 1919, in the next battle on the bank of the Sal River, the future USSR Marshal Egorov (together with Dumenko) was seriously wounded and was out of order for some time. Nevertheless, the army was able to achieve victory that day. For this success, the commander received the highest military award of the Bolsheviks at that time - the Order of the Red Banner.
For several weeks Yegorov lay in the hospitals of Saratov and Moscow. In July, he returned to the front and led the 14th Army. Then, in October 1919 - January 1920, Alexander Ilyich held the post of commander of the troops of the Southern Front. He was appointed at the most intense moment of the Civil War. White, as never before, were close to Moscow. October 13, they occupied the Eagle. The headquarters of the Southern Front at that time was located in Serpukhov near Moscow. The situation was extremely serious. The loss of Moscow could lead to the final defeat of the Bolsheviks.
At the head of the Southern Front
Despite everything, Marshal Egorov Alexander Ilyich did not give up. At the initiative of Lenin, he carried out the transfer of the Latvian Rifle Division, the Pavlov Rifle Brigade, the Primakov Cavalry Brigade, and also some other PFR units from the Western Front. From this mishmash, the command created a special strike group. She was to become the grave digger of the successes of the whites.
The multi-day battle began at Kromy and Orel. The 13th, 14th armies and the strike group defeated Aleksandrov Kutepovās corps. Thus, the advance of Denikin was thwarted. Meanwhile, another shock group under the command of Budenny in the Voronezh direction defeated several more white horse corps. On October 25, the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front sent a telegram to Lenin informing of the long-awaited victory over the main stronghold of the counter-revolution. The message was signed by Egorov and Stalin.
On December 12, the Red Army liberated Kharkov, and on the 16th, Kiev. In January 1920, Rostov was cleared of whites. So the forces of the Southern Front fulfilled their mission and defeated the Denikin Volunteer Army. Of course, Alexander Egorov made a huge contribution to this success. Marshall later wrote detailed recollections of the days of defeats and victories on the fronts of the Civil War.
In Petrograd
In early 1921, Yegorov was elected as a deputy of the X Congress of the Communist Party. In April, he became commander of the Petrograd Military District. The military remained in this position until September 1921. In Petrograd, Yegorov had to deal primarily with the consequences of the Kronstadt rebellion. The sailors revolted right during the X Congress. For the Bolsheviks, it was a painful blow. Egorov began reorganizing party political work in military units.
The commander also fought the famine that plagued Petrograd. Being in the actual border strip, he formed new border control units (separately for the Finnish and Latvian-Estonian borders). This was followed by reassignments - first to the Western Front, then to the Caucasian Red Banner Army.
Peace years
In 1931, Alexander Ilyich was appointed chief of staff of the Red Army. In this position, he became one of the first five marshals. The highest rank in the Red Army was given to Yegorov for a reason. During the years of the Civil War, he became a real all-Union hero. Alexander Ilyich belonged to a galaxy of commanders who forged a victory in a bloody struggle with the whites.
In peacetime, as head of the headquarters of the Red Army, Yegorov led the great work on developing a plan for the technical reconstruction of the armed forces. The problem of modernization arose sharply in the early 30s. Then the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR instructed the Headquarters of the Red Army to begin rearmament and reconstruction. A report on the results of this strategically important work was prepared by a group of selected specialists. The team was headed by Marshal Egorov.
The military wife Galina Tseshkovskaya supported her husband at every stage of his life (they got married back in tsarist times). The period of his stay in the Headquarters of the Red Army was no exception. In this post, Yegorov remained a record long. His whole career consisted of constant moving and changing activities. He remained the Chief of Staff until 1935, when he became Chief of the General Staff.
Opal and doom
In May 1937, Marshal of the Soviet Union Egorov was removed from the post of chief of the General Staff of the Red Army (Boris Shaposhnikov came in his place). Alexander Ilyich became deputy commissar of defense. In 1937, rearrangements in the army took on a massive scale. It soon became clear that they were the prologue of terrible purges in the Red Army. In the conditions of a tense political situation in Europe (in Germany, the Nazis came to power, bourgeois countries were losing ground, the Old World was inevitably approaching a great war) Stalin decided to clean up the Red Army.
The main blow fell on those who made their careers during the Civil War. In the 30s, these people held key posts in the Red Army. Their attitude towards Stalin was heterogeneous. The heroes of the "citizen" were the same age as Koba, they had the moral right to consider him the first among equals. Stalin built a dictatorship. Such a proud and independent army scared him. Marshal Yegorov was also on the black lists of Stalin. The "family" of the old Bolsheviks who divided the trenches into the Civil War is a thing of the past. At first, public criticism of the leader fell in the direction of Yegorov. Then came the real disgrace.
The fate of the marshal in the last year of his life was typical of the victims of Stalinist terror. Egorov was systematically reassigned to new, less noticeable and important posts. In January 1938, he was actually exiled. Egorov was sent to command the Transcaucasian Military District. This was a typical Stalin move. For example, Tukhachevsky was sent to the Volga region just before the execution.
While Yegorov was taking business in the Caucasus, the last clouds were gathering over him in Moscow. On February 8, 1938, his wife Galina Tseshkovskaya was arrested. Marshal Egorovās wife became a natural victim of terror. As a rule, in the NKVD they first of all took on the relatives of a high-ranking person on whom a black mark appeared.
On February 21, Marshal Yegorov was called to Moscow. The wife was already arrested, but this disaster was only the beginning of the destruction of the military family. Alexander Ilyich was detained in the capital on March 27. He was sent to the Lubyanka. There is an unconfirmed legend that in July 1938 the People's Commissar of the NKVD Yezhov handed over to Stalin the next death list. There were 139 names in this paper. Stalin agreed with the execution of 138, but at the same time crossed out the name of Egorov. For historians, it remains unknown what was the reason for this decision. One way or another, but Marshal Egorov, whose photo ceased to appear in newspaper publications, lived in prison for another six months.
February 22, 1939 the Supreme Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR announced a verdict in the military. Marshall was accused of organizing a military conspiracy and espionage. The court found Yegorov guilty. Marshal was shot the very next day. It was February 23 - Day of the Red Army and Navy.
Together with Egorov many professionals in their field laid their heads. In place of this cohort of high command of the Red Army, a gaping void formed. The consequences of the purges in the army affected very soon. Already in 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. It was then that the country felt the lack of trained personnel. Almost the entire commanding staff was recruited from unfired and unprepared youth. Stalin, in a fit of paranoid fear, who shot the whole color of his army, was left without personnel reserves. The result of this turn was a colossal loss at the first stage of World War II. Throughout the confrontation with the Third Reich, the Red Army was sorely lacking the abilities and experience of Alexander Egorov.