Kachalov, Vladimir Yakovlevich

Born on July 27, 1890 in the village of Gorodishche, now Gorodishchensky district of the Volgograd region . His father was a peasant, but soon after the birth of Vladimir he moved to Tsaritsyn , where he began to work as a shoemaker. He graduated from the parish school , and in 1910 - Kharkov Commercial School.

In the Russian imperial army since 1910. He served as a volunteer in the infantry regiment. In 1912, he retired to the reserve, worked as an accountant, and was preparing to enter the institute.

With the outbreak of World War I he was again mobilized into the army. In 1914 he graduated from the Kazan school of ensigns. Member of the First World War: from the end of 1914 - the junior officer of the 23rd Siberian reserve regiment, from 1915 - the commander of the company of the 58th Prague Infantry Regiment , in which he fought on the South-Western and Romanian fronts.

After the February Revolution, he was elected first the head of the regimental economy, and then the elected commander of the regiment. After the dissolution of the old army by the Bolshevik leadership in February 1918, Kachalov returned to Tsaritsyn. He rose to the rank of captain in the Russian army (was awarded in January 1917).

In the Red Army since July 1918. Active participant in the Civil War in Russia : Junior Assistant Chief of Staff for the administrative part of the 2nd Combined Cossack Division of the 10th Army , chief of staff of the brigade of the 38th Rifle Division , chief of the operational department of the headquarters and since September - chief of staff of the 1st Don Separate Cavalry brigades, since November - chief of staff of the 1st consolidated cavalry division, since September 1919 - chief of staff of the cavalry corps B. M. Dumenko , since April 1920 - chief of staff of the 1st cavalry corps, since July 1920 - chief of field staff 2 Horse rmii , October - Head of the 2nd Cavalry Division Stavropol named after MF Blinov . He participated in battles against the troops of A. I. Denikin and P. N. Wrangel .

At the end of December 1921, he was sent to study at the Military Academic Courses of the Higher Command of the Red Army , graduated from them in 1924. From July 1923 - commander of the 1st Separate Turkestan Cavalry Brigade, from October 1923 - commander of the 11th Cavalry Division , from November 1924 - inspector of the cavalry of the Western Military District , from November 1925 to March 1930 - commander of the 10th Maykop cavalry division . During the command of the division, he graduated from the Shooting and Tactical Improvement Courses for the Red Army "Shot" command staff in 1928 .

Since March 1930 - the commander of the 14th cavalry division named after A. Parkhomenko , since January 1931 - the commander and commissar of the 6th Oryol Rifle Division . He graduated from the Special Faculty of the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze in 1935 . Commander and commissar of the 22nd Rifle Division in the North Caucasus Military District since May 1936 , commander of the 9th Rifle Corps in the same district since June 1937 , Deputy Commander of the North Caucasus Military District since December 1937 , commander of the North Caucasus military district since April 1938 . On October 7, 1938, he was approved as a member of the Military Council under the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR ^[1] . Since June 1940 - Commander of the Arkhangelsk Military District .

In the early days of World War II , the 28th Army was formed on the basis of the district forces. Lieutenant General Kachalov took command of this army and at its head arrived on the Western Front . Participated in the battle of Smolensk . On the 20th of July 1941, Vladimir Yakovlevich led the task force of three divisions ( 104th , 145th, and 149th ), which launched a counterattack from the Roslavl region by the advancing German troops and threw the enemy over the Stomet River , thereby creating threat from the rear of the Wehrmacht's advanced formations . To fend off the blow, the German command was forced to pull up large forces to this section of the front , which soon surrounded Kachalov’s group with flank attacks.

On August 4, 1941, during a breakthrough from the encirclement, Vladimir Yakovlevich Kachalov died in a tank battle. It was originally buried in a mass grave in the village of Starinka. After exhumation, he was reburied in the village of Stodolishche, Pochinkovsky district, Smolensk region ^[2] .

G. Geyer, commander of the German 9th Army Corps , recalled: “On the spot, I could see with my own eyes how fierce the battles were near Ermolino 4 and at night on August 5. There remained many burned and abandoned tanks. In one of them we found the murdered Russian commander ... "

Without accurate information about the fate of General Kachalov on the basis of a false report by L. Z. Mehlis ^{[3] to} I. V. Stalin, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command in Order No. 270 of August 16, 1941 accused him of desertion and surrender.

The commander of the 28th army, Lieutenant General Kachalov, being together with the headquarters of a group of troops surrounded, showed cowardice and surrendered to the German fascists. The headquarters of Kachalov’s group left the encirclement, part of the Kachalov’s group broke out of the encirclement, and Lieutenant General Kachalov preferred to surrender, preferred to desert to the enemy.

On September 29, 1941, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR , having examined the case on charges of Kachalov under article 58-1, paragraph b of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, sentenced him to death in absentia. In 1952-1953, an investigation was conducted that made it possible to establish the circumstances of the death of the general, a mass grave was found in which he was buried, witnesses of the funeral were established, exhumation was carried out, and the personality of the deceased, who turned out to be V. Ya. Kachalov, was reliably established ^{[4 ]} . Nevertheless, until the death of I.V. Stalin, the results of the investigation were not reported to him and remained motionless. Only on December 23, 1953, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR reversed its 1941 sentence and rehabilitated V. Ya. Kachalova ^[5] . By a resolution of the CPSU Central Committee of December 29, 1953, V. Ya. Kachalov was posthumously reinstated in the party. By order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR of February 13, 1954, the wording of the retirement of V. Ya. Kachalov from the Red Army was changed to "died in battle during the Great Patriotic War."

• division commander - February 17, 1936
• Comcor - February 22, 1938
• 2nd rank commander - February 8, 1939
• lieutenant general - June 4, 1940

• Two Orders of the Red Banner (1921, 02.22.1938)
• Order of the Patriotic War of 1 degree (1965, posthumous)
• Medal "XX years of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army" (1938)

In his memoirs, the head of the political department of the 28th army V.P. Tereshkin spoke about V. Ya. Kachalov ^[6] :

He was calm, restrained, attentive to his subordinate person. I do not remember a single case in peacetime or during the war, when Kachalov lost his temper, would have been rude to his subordinates. He was strict and demanding, but always calmly and convincingly explained the tasks that his subordinates set, and just as calmly and convincingly answered all the questions that the subordinates had in connection with the orders they received from Kachalov. He never showed haste. In battles, he was an example of personal courage and contempt for dangers.

• Team of authors . The Great Patriotic War. The commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary / Under the General Ed. M. G. Vozhakina . - M .; Zhukovsky: Kuchkovo Field, 2005 .-- pp. 89–90. - ISBN 5-86090-113-5 .
• The command and command staff of the Red Army in 1940-1941: Structure and personnel of the central apparatus of the NPO of the USSR, military districts and combined arms armies: Documents and materials / Ed. V.N. Kuselenkova. - M. - St. Petersburg. : Summer Garden , 2005 .-- pp. 151-152. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-94381-137-0 .
• A team of compilers and editors. Military Council at the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR. 1938, 1940: Documents and materials. - M .: ROSSPEN , 2006 .-- 336 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-8243-0694-X .
• Soloviev D. Yu. All the generals of Stalin. - M., 2019 .-- ISBN: 9785532106444. - S.39-40.
• The Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. Encyclopedia. - M., 1985.
• On the land of Smolensk. - M., 1971.
• Zhukov G. K. “Memoirs and Reflections” In 2 vols. - M.: Olma-Press, 2002.
• Lukin M.F. “We Do Not Give Up, Comrade General!” // Spark. 1964. No. 52. S. 16.

• Sidorova T. The tragedy of General Kachalov.
• Kachalov Vladimir Yakovlevich on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation