Uborevich, Jerome Petrovich

Born in the village of in the Kovno province (now in the Utena district of Lithuania ) in the family of the Lithuanian peasant Pinhus Uborevich ^[1] , in 1909–1914 he studied in the real school of the city of Dvinsk (now Daugavpils in Latvia ) ^{[2] [3]} which he graduated with a gold medal.

Student of the Faculty of Mechanics of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute (1914-1915). In the spring of 1916 he graduated from the Konstantinovsky Artillery School on the 1st category, with the rank of second lieutenant sent to the front as a junior officer of the 15th Heavy Artillery Division, participated in the battles of the First World War .

Member of the RSDLP (b) since March 1917. In January-February 1918, the commander of the Red Guard detachment in Bessarabia fought against the Romanian and Austro - German forces. In February 1918, in a battle with units of the German army, he was wounded and taken prisoner, in July he fled.

Civil War

In August 1918 - on the Northern Front . He served as an artillery instructor, brigade commander, from December 1918 - head of the 18th Infantry Division . For battles in October 1918, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1919). In March-May 1919, commanding the 18th Infantry Division, took part in the offensive against the troops of the British and the White Guard in the Arkhangelsk sector.

Fighting the Volunteer Army

From October 11, 1919, the 23-year-old Uborevich commanded the 14th Army of the Southern Front during the offensive of the Volunteer Army against Moscow ^{[Note. 1]} . From mid-October to the end of November, the general battle unfolded. Two armies of the Reds ( 13th and 14th) were confronted by the 1st Army Corps of the White ^{[Note. 2]} . During the 39-day battle, the 14th Army halted the advance of the whites to the north and inflicted a serious defeat on them. At the same time, the Reds actively used the maneuver, including the cavalry division of Primakov . Without an operational pause, the 14th Army launched the Kharkov offensive , during which also fighter cover and cavalry maneuvers were actively used. December 11, 1919 the 14th Army took Poltava , and December 12 - Kharkov . In the course of the Donbas operation, which was carried out from December 18 , the troops of the 14th army cut off the left-flank group of the Volunteer Army, isolated it from the main forces and defeated it. The 14th Army took Yekaterinoslav , Mariupol and Berdyansk , with the result that the Volunteer Army was divided into two parts, one of which retreated to the Crimea , and the other to the North Caucasus . Continuing to command the 14th Army as part of the South-Western Front , he achieved the tasks assigned to him in the Odessa operation despite some numerical superiority of the enemy forces, and from January 18 to February 8, 1920 the army took Krivoi Rog , Kherson , Nikolaev , Odessa .

February 29, 1920, he was appointed commander of the 9th Army of the Caucasian Front (commander M.N. Tukhachevsky ) and took part in the final defeat of the Denikin Volunteer Army in the Kuban . On March 17, the 9th Army stormed Ekaterinodar . The 24-year-old commander Uborevich was awarded the Honorary revolutionary weapon for his skillful leadership of the troops, personal heroism and courage. On March 27, the divisions of the 9th Army took Novorossiysk , disrupting the organized evacuation of the white forces to the Crimea.

Polish campaign

In the Polish campaign of 1920, Uborevich commanded the 14th Army of the Southwestern Front, which, participating in the June frontal offensive , freed Vinnitsa , Zhmerinka , and Mogilyov-Podolsky from the Poles.

Fighting Wrangel

After the defeat of the 13th army of the South-Western Front by the forces of the Russian army of General Wrangel in June 1920, Uborevich was appointed commander of this army. In July, the army repulsed the offensive of the Drozdov and Markov infantry divisions at Aleksandrovsk, in August occupied the Kakhovsky bridgehead 60 km from Perekop , which threatened the left flank of the white army. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic S.S. Kamenev called him at that time the first violin of the Southern Front ^[4] . For leadership of the 13th Army, Uborevich was awarded the 2nd Order of the Red Banner.

Peasant uprisings

In November-December 1920, Commander of the 14th Army of the South-Western Front, in January-April 1921 — Assistant (Deputy) Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Crimea , M.V. Frunze . In April-May 1921, Uborevich - deputy commander of the Tambov district of Tukhachevsky during the suppression of the peasant uprising , then commander of the troops of the Minsk province in the suppression of peasant uprisings in Belarus.

Siberia and the Far East

In August 1921 - August 1922 - Commander of the 5th Separate Army and Troops of the East-Siberian Military District . From August 17, 1922, Chairman of the Military Council, Minister of War of the Far Eastern Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the People's Revolutionary Army and Navy of the FER ^[5] . On 9 October, under his command, the NRA stormed the Spassky fortified area and on 25 October entered Vladivostok . On November 22, 1922, with the abolition of the FER, the NRA was renamed the 5th Red Banner Army, and Uborevich was appointed its commander-in-chief (until June 1924).

Post-war period

From June 1924 to January 1925 - Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Ukrainian Military District . From February 1925 to November 1927 - Commander of the North Caucasian Military District . From August 1926 to June 1934 - a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR .

In 1927-1928, he spent 13 months on a business trip in Germany, during which he studied in the third year of a military academy, and also participated in field trips and maneuvers of the Reichswehr . Studying in Germany the main issues of preparing the army of peacetime, Uborevich came to the conclusion that it was necessary to move to more advanced methods of combat training of the army using German technical achievements.

From November 1928 to November 1929 - Commander of the Moscow Military District . From November 1929 to June 1931 - Head of Armaments of the Red Army, from June 1930 at the same time Deputy Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR - Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR. In this capacity, he again traveled to Germany in 1930 to get acquainted with the German military factories.

From June 1931 to May 20, 1937 - Commander of the Belarusian Military District .

With the introduction of personal military ranks into the Red Army on November 20, 1935, Uborevich was given the rank of commander of rank 1 .

In July 1930 at the XVI Congress of the CPSU (b) Uborevich was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) , since January 1932 he was a member of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the CP (b) of Belarus .

Arrest and Execution

Uborevich belonged to the group of supreme Soviet military leaders who negatively evaluated Voroshilov’s activities as a people's defense commissar. This group included Tukhachevsky, Yakir and Gamarnik . They believed that in the conditions of preparing the USSR for a big war, Voroshilov’s incompetence adversely affected the process of technical and structural modernization of the Red Army. Starting a big purge in the party, the security organs and the army, Stalin took the side of Voroshilov, who was absolutely loyal to him.

In August 1936, the first Moscow trial against the “opposition” took place, at the same time the arrests of V. M. Primakov and V. K. Putna's attackers followed . The February-March plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) of 1937 ideologically justified the development of repression throughout society, in April the NKVD received testimony about the collusion of Tukhachevsky, Uborevich, Yorka during interrogation.

On May 20, 1937, Uborevich was appointed commander of the forces of the Central Asian Military District ; on May 29, he was arrested on his way to Moscow. Poll members of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) May 30 - June 1, 1937 Uborevich was excluded from the composition of the candidates for members of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b).

On May 30, Uborevich categorically denied his participation in counter-revolutionary organizations. Former employee of the Special Department of the NKVD of the USSR Avseevich showed: “In May 1937, at one of the meetings, beginning of the department Ushakov reported to Leplevsky that Uborevich did not want to testify, Leplevsky ordered Ushakov to apply physical methods of impact to Uborevich at a meeting. " ^[6]

Soon after that, Uborevich signed an interrogation report admitting his guilt.

On June 5, from a large group of arrested warlords of the eight, they were combined into one group case. On June 7, the text of the indictment in the case of the “military-fascist conspiracy” was approved. On the eve of the trial, those arrested were summoned to Leplevsky, who said that their fate would depend on their behavior at the trial. On June 10, the Special Court Presence of the USSR Supreme Court was established to consider the case. Its chairman, Ulrich, told the court secretary Zaryanov that there are instructions from Stalin regarding the application of capital punishment to all defendants - execution. ^[7] On June 11, the case was examined in accordance with the procedure established by the law of December 1, 1934, that is, in a closed court hearing without the presence of defense counsel and without the right to appeal the verdict. The record of the court does not contain any facts confirming the accusations of espionage, conspiracy and the preparation of terrorist acts. As a sabotage by Tukhachevsky, Uborevich and Yakir, their speeches for the accelerated formation of mechanized formations at the expense of cavalry were regarded. Even before the end of the trial, Stalin sent a telegram to the national Central Committee and the regional committees of the party, proposing to organize rallies demanding the highest measure ^[7] . On the same day, at 23.35, Marshal of the Soviet Union M.N. Tukhachevsky , commanders of the 1st rank I. P. Uborevich, I. E. Yakir , commander of the 2nd rank A.I. Kork , and others were sentenced to death. On the night of June 12, Ulrich signed an order to the commandant of the Military Collegium Ignatiev to execute the sentence immediately. The act of execution was signed by those present at the execution of the sentence by Vyshinsky, Ulrich and others. The bodies were burned in the crematorium of the Donskoy Monastery .

By definition of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of January 31, 1957, all of them were rehabilitated.

His wife Nina Vladimirovna was arrested (arrested as ČSIR, shot in October 1941, rehabilitated in 1957), Vladimir’s daughter (born February 14, 1924) was raised in an orphanage in 1937–1941, sentenced to five years in camps, early released under an amnesty 1947, rehabilitated in 1955) ^[8] .

• Three Orders of the Red Banner (1919, 1920, 1922).
• Honorary revolutionary weapon (1920).

Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov :

It was a real Soviet military leader, who mastered operational tactical art to perfection. He was in the full sense of the word military man. Appearance, the ability to hold on, the ability to briefly express their thoughts, everything indicated that I. P. Uborevich was an outstanding military leader. In the army, he appeared when he was least expected. Each of his visits usually began with the raising of the units on alert and ended with tactical exercises or command training.

The best commander of the district was commander of the 1st rank I. P. Uborevich. None of the commanders has given so much in operational-tactical training to commanders and compound headquarters as I. P. Uborevich and the district headquarters under his leadership.

After the arrest of the commanders of the districts I. P. Uborevich and I. P. Belov, the training of top commanders in the district sharply decreased.

Uborevich was more concerned with operational art and tactics. He was a great connoisseur of both of them and an unsurpassed tutor of the troops.

Uborevich was an incomparable educator who carefully watched people and knew them, demanding, strict, superbly able to explain to you your mistakes. The evidence of them became clear after three or four of his phrases. His severity was feared, although he was neither harsh nor rude. But he could so quickly and so accurately show you and others your mistakes, your wrongness in this or that matter, that it kept people in suspense.

Marshal of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev ^[9] :

I. Konev considers Uborevich to be the largest military figure among all the dead, he is highly appreciated. Appreciates his experience during the civil war. He highly appreciates him as the commander of the district, as a man who knew the troops well, was intently and skillfully engaged in combat training, and who was able to look ahead and raise cadres. In addition to the above, in the opinion of I. S. Konev, Uborevich was a man with an extraordinary military talent, in his person our army suffered the most serious loss, because this man could successfully command the front and generally be in one of the leading roles in the army during the war.

Marshal of the Soviet Union K.A. Meretskov :

I worked with him for about five years, and these years are a whole new period in my service. Not to say that I alone was under his influence. Everything done by Uborevich: educated, raised and trained commanders of various ranks; his working methods; all that he gave to our army - in the aggregate, cannot be described otherwise than as the original red military school, fruitful and instructive. Not a single commander ... gave me so much as Jerome Petrovich.

- ^[10]

One of the most capable organizers of combat training of troops. For many years, the military-theoretical works of Uborevich were valuable aids for the commanding and commanding personnel of the entire Red Army. His interesting and rich artistic heritage deserves the closest attention.

Uborevich with great skill spent command and staff games, exercises, supervised field trips and other activities. He invariably achieved great dynamism in the course of the game, created difficult and interesting moments in the setting, bringing the game as close as possible to the conditions of wartime. Classes have always been instructive, with those discrepancies and with the load that are characteristic of life, for a combat situation. Therefore, they can always be found instructive examples.

Uborevich was extremely demanding of himself and his subordinates, in his judgments he was principled, in his work he was exact. He counted his actions and deeds literally up to a minute. The same accuracy in the work required from subordinates.

Jerome Petrovich was a highly educated person. He knew fiction and art well, was well versed in general technical issues, and worked hard on the development of military thought. Thus, during the civil war, he independently became acquainted with the history of military art, tactics and strategy, and later he deeply studied the works of M. I. Dragomirov on training troops in peacetime.

Colonel-General A.P. Pokrovsky :

Zhukov, Konev, Malinovsky , Meretskov, Kurasov , Malandin , Zakharov . It was Uborevich's school. He was an amazing man of great talents. All these big people then seemed so small next to him. Now Zhukov and Konev went down in history, did a lot, and then they seemed close to this man small. He taught them, they learned from him. He was a very large man. I think that in the military environment, just like in any other, not every decade such large, talented individuals are born. And the fact that such a man was lost before the war for the army was a particularly great tragedy among other tragedies. It was a matchless person. It was easy to work with him if you worked a lot, if you were aware of all the military innovations, all the theoretical innovations, if you read everything, followed everything, all military journals, all the books. And if you were fully engaged in the work area entrusted to you. But if you did not keep up with something, lagged behind, were lazy, did not read, did not meet, did not turn out to be at the level of military thought, at the level of her new steps, if you are not completely or not as good as you need, you have fulfilled the task entrusted to you , Then beware. Then it is difficult to work with Uborevich. He was very demanding and did not forgive this. In short, it was a real school.

• “Jerome Petrovich Uborevich ... possesses prestige among the commanders, thinks very well, works, improves” (Tukhachevsky in a letter to Voroshilov, 1925) ^[11] .

1. Uborevich I. Preparation of the Red Army commanders (senior and senior). Field trips, accelerated war games and exits into the field . - M. L .: State Publishing House, 1928. - 180 p.
2. Uborevich I. Operational-tactical and aviation war games . - M. L .: State Publishing House, 1929. - 108 p.

In honor of the commander named 15 streets in Russia ^[12] , including:

• in Vladivostok. At the beginning of the street there is a metal plate with his portrait
• in the city of Novodvinsk of the Arkhangelsk region
• in Plesetsk, Arkhangelsk Region
• in Tambov
• in Khabarovsk

Two streets in Ukraine:

• In Donesk
• in Lugansk

Two streets in Belarus:

• in Minsk ^[13] , in the Chizhovka microdistrict
• in Baranavichy

• Grigoriev, Andrei Stepanovich - a brigade commander on the Northern Front under the command of Uborevich.
• Kupriyanov, Ivan Filippovich - Commissioner of the 18th Infantry Division on the Northern Front under the command of Uborevich.

Comments

Sources

• Uborevich I.P. Autobiography // Military-Historical Journal. - 1989. - № 2. - p. 81.
• Soviet historical encyclopedia - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1973. - V. 14. - p. 642.
• Denikin A.I. Campaign to Moscow / Essays on the Russian turmoil. - M .: Military Publishing, 1989. - p. 143.
• Civil war in the USSR. - M .: Military Publishing, 1986. - 447 p.
• Civil war and military intervention in the USSR: Encyclopedia. - Ed. second - M .: Owls. Encyclopedia, 1987. - 720 p.
• Lazarev S. E. Tukhachevsky and Uborevich - bright representatives of the Soviet military elite // Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - M. , 2011. - T. 81, № 12. - P. 1123-1127.
• Lazarev S. Ye. The rise and fall of the commander I. P. Uborevich // News of the Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - Samara, 2011. - Vol. 13, No. 3 (2). - p. 410-415.
• Sokolov B. V. Mikhail Tukhachevsky: the life and death of the “Red Marshal”. - Smolensk: Rusich, 1999. - 512 p.
• Cherushev, N. S. 1937: The Red Army's elite on the calvary. - M .: Veche Publishing House, 2003. - 541 p.
• G. K. Zhukov. Memoirs and Reflections - M .: News, 1990. - T. 1. - 384 p.
• Simonov KM The eyes of a man of my generation - M .: Publishing House of the Press Agency News, 1988. - 480 p.
• Yakupov N.M. Tragedy of commanders. - M .: Thought , 1992. - p. 162-196. - 349 s. - 20 000 copies - ISBN 5-244-00525-1 .

• Meretskov KA. In the service of the people . - M .: Politizdat, 1968.
• Simonov KM. Conversation with the former chief of staff of the Western and Third Belorussian fronts, Colonel-General A.P. - 1968.
• Special program about Uborevich on “Echo of Moscow”
• Model of the monumental monument to Uborević (Uboryavičius) for erection in Lithuania
• Biography on the site HRONOS