Mikhail Vasilyevich Smirnov ( 1903 , p. Starye Saviny , Kursk province [1] - October 1994 , Kaliningrad ) - major general [2] , participant in the assault on Königsberg , cavalry inspector of the 3rd Belorussian Front , the first Soviet commandant of Koenigsberg (from April 7 until June 12, 1945 [3] ).
| Mikhail Vasilievich Smirnov | |||||||||||||
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| Affiliation |  the USSR | ||||||||||||
| Type of army | cavalry | ||||||||||||
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| Commanded | commandant of Konigsberg (1945) | ||||||||||||
| Battles / wars | East Prussian operation (1945) | ||||||||||||
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Content
Biography
In 1919 he graduated from 6 classes of a real school [4] , 1920 was drafted into the Red Army [1] . In 1924 he graduated from the 6th cavalry command school, in 1925 - military chemical courses of the North Caucasian Military District [4] .
In 1931 he graduated from the Academy. Frunze . At the beginning of World War II, from 1941 he was the chief of staff of the inspecting group of the Western Front , then from 1942, he was an inspector of the 3rd Belorussian Front , in the same year he was awarded the rank of Major General [1] .
At the end of March 1945, in accordance with the plan for the assault on Königsberg, he was appointed to the post of commandant of Königsberg . On April 7, 1945, a commandant's office was formed and Smirnov became the first Soviet leader of the city. On May 10, at the Konigsberg commandant’s office, the Interim Civil Affairs Department is created . The head of the department was the deputy commandant of Koenigsberg for civil administration, Colonel Mikhail Maximovich Zaletov . He was also the deputy head of the interim civil affairs department. The activities of the department were also led by the assistants of the military commandant of Koenigsberg for economic affairs, Colonel Einstein (in May) and Lt. Col. Andrei Georgievich Antonov (since May 26 ). [3]
In the very first days of leadership, the main issue was putting things in order on the streets of the city: putting out fires, clearing streets and rubble, taking into account the local German population and providing it with food. It was necessary to establish a supply of water and electricity.
On June 12 [1] 1945, an order was followed to hand over the affairs and position of Major General M. V. Smirnov and to take over the command of the city’s Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General M. A. Pronin . [3]
Since 1946, he worked as a senior lecturer at the Academy of the General Staff , since 1952 - deputy chief editor, editor of the department of operational art and tactics of the journal Military Thought . After being transferred to the reserve in 1960, until 1977 he was a senior researcher and military assistant at the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense and the Technical Information Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences [1] [5] .
Memory
The funds of the Kursk Regional Museum of Local Lore store some personal items and documents (maps, battle patterns, photographs) by M. V. Smirnov. [6]
The memorial plaque to Major General Smirnov Mikhail Vasilievich was fortified in Kaliningrad at 65 Prospekt Mira , where from April 1945 he worked as the first military commandant of Koenigsberg [7] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Smirnov, Mikhail Vasilievich // Goizman Sh. R. Kursk Encyclopedia. - Kursk, 2004.
- ↑ Decision of the Council of People's Commissars of 11.17.1942 No. 1844
- ↑ 1 2 3 History of Kaliningrad in the biographies of city governors
- ↑ 1 2 Smirnov Mikhail Vasilievich
- ↑ BIG ENCYCLOPEDIC DICTIONARY OF THE KALININGRAD REGION Electronic edition - reference book Kaliningrad, “Axios”, 2011
- ↑ Kursk State Regional Museum of Local Lore Archived on February 10, 2009. (taken June 18, 2008)
- ↑ Plaque to Smirnov M.V.
Literature
- Essays on the history of East Prussia / G.V. Kretinin, V.N. Bryushinkin, V.I. Galtsov et al. - Kaliningrad, 2002. - ISBN 5-7406-0502-4