Alferov, Ivan Prokopyevich

Ivan Prokopyevich Alferov was born in the village of Mysovskaya, now in the Luz district of the Kirov region, into a peasant family. The family had 7 children, all boys. Later, during the years of World War II, all 7 Alferov brothers fought at the front, two of them died. He graduated from elementary rural school, due to lack of funds he could not continue his studies, he worked in his father's farm. From 1912 he worked as a hired worker with merchants from the Urals.

World War I and Civil War

In May 1916 he was drafted into the ranks of the Russian Imperial Army . From May to September 1916 he served in the 216th reserve regiment in Kozlov . In 1917 he graduated from the 4th Moscow school of ensigns. After her graduation, he served as a junior officer in a company of the 8th Finland Rifle Regiment , in which he fought in the 7th Army on the Southwestern Front of the First World War . In January 1918 he left the front (officially demobilized in March 1918) with the rank of ensign .

After returning to his homeland, he was appointed instructor of the universal education in the Griboshinsky volost of the Veliky Ustyug district.

In June 1918, he drafted into the ranks of the Red Army . Member of the Civil War in Russia . First, Alferov was appointed to the position of platoon commander of the 1st North Dvinsky Battalion of the Cheka , in 1919 transformed into the 55th North Dvinsky Rifle Regiment. He commanded a platoon and company in the regiment, and was wounded in battle. After treatment in January 1919 he was sent to study at the Higher Rifle School of the Red Army command staff . In May 1919 he graduated from it and was appointed to the position of platoon commander of the 1st Moscow infantry courses of the command staff. In 1919 he joined the ranks of the RCP (b) .

In October-November 1919, as part of the consolidated regiment of courses, he participated in the defense of Petrograd , and was wounded a second time.

In February 1920, he was appointed to the post of battalion commander of the 4th Rifle Regiment ( South-Western Front ), in November - to the position of assistant commander of the 52nd Rifle Regiment ( 52nd Rifle Division ), in May 1921 - to the post of commander 6th regiment of the 2nd Don Special Purpose Division , in October 1921 - to the post of assistant commander for the political part of the 3rd separate Donetsk brigade . In January 1922, Alferov was transferred to the headquarters of the commander of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic , where he temporarily served as battalion commander of the 1st Chita Brigade since April, and in August was appointed to the position of company commander of the 6th Khabarovsk Rifle Regiment. In October 1922, in a battle for the Sviyagino station, he was wounded for the third time during the Primorsky operation .

For military distinctions during the Civil War, Alferov was much later (in 1933) awarded the Order of the Red Banner .

Interwar

After being cured in the hospital, he continued to command the company of the 6th Khabarovsk Rifle Regiment. In January 1924 he was appointed to the post of commander of the 4th Volochaevsky Rifle Regiment’s battalion, soon served as chief of staff of the regiment, in November 1926 he was appointed commander of the 5th Separate Rifle Battalion of the local troops of the Siberian Military District , and in May 1929 - to the post of commander and commissar of the 16th separate rifle battalion of local troops.

In November 1930, Alferov was sent to study on shooting tactical courses to improve the command staff of the Red Army of the III Comintern "Shot" , after which from May 1931 he served as assistant chief of the 8th and 1st sectors of the 8th department, and assistant chief of this department of the Office of the command and command staff of the Red Army .

After graduating from the evening faculty of the Military Academy of the Red Army named after M.V. Frunze from August 1934, he worked in the same academy as the head of the 4th part of the training course, special faculty, correspondence department, and from October 1937 he was temporarily acting as a teacher of the general tactics department .

In May 1938, Alferov was sent on a special business trip to China , from which he returned in November 1939 . In China, in one of the battles against the Japanese troops, he received a strong concussion . In April 1940 he was appointed to the post of senior lecturer at the Department of General Tactics of the Military Academy of the Red Army MV Frunze.

World War II

In July 1941, Alferov was appointed to the post of chief of staff of the 2nd Division of the People’s Militia ( Moscow Military District ), in August - to the post of chief of the 1st Division - deputy chief of the operational department of the headquarters of the 52nd Army , and then - to the post of chief Operational Division of the Headquarters of the 4th Army ( Volkhov Front ). He took part in the Tikhvin defensive and Tikhvin offensive operations.

In May 1942 he was appointed commander of the 288th Infantry Division of the 4th Army of the Volkhov Front. Since September 1942 - commander of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps of the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front. In October-December 1942, the corps was relocated to the south and became part of the 1st Guards Army of the South-Western Front . Under the command of Alferov, he took part in the Battle of Stalingrad . He particularly distinguished himself in the Middle Don operation in December 1942, in which he participated in the brutal defeat of the 8th Italian army (more than 15,000 people were taken prisoners only). Then Voroshilovgrad , Izyum-Barvenkovskaya and Donbass offensive operations took part , during which he liberated the cities of Boguchar , Millerovo , Gorskoye and Dneprodzerzhinsk . In December 1943, he passed command of the corps and was called to Moscow.

In early January 1944, Major General Alferov was appointed commander of the 109th Rifle Corps , who, under his command, took part in the Leningrad-Novgorod , Vyborg , Narva and Baltic offensive operations .

The 109th Rifle Corps of Lieutenant General I.P. Alferov was particularly successful in the Vyborg offensive operation. The corps entered battle on the first day of the operation on June 10, 1944, advancing along the coast of the Gulf of Finland along the railway to Vyborg and along the Primorsky highway. Already in the first 2 days of the offensive, the corps successfully broke through the first line of the Mannerheim line , advanced up to 24 kilometers and with battle occupied the settlements of Kellomyaki and Terioki. On June 14, 1944, it was the units of the 19th Corps that were the first to break through the second line of Finnish defense and the commander of the Leningrad Front L.A. Govorov introduced two rifle corps into the breach, which they could not break through this line in their offensive zone. On July 18, the corps broke through the third line of defense, and on June 20 participated in the storming of the city of Vyborg .

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 21, 1944, for the exemplary performance of command missions on the front of the struggle against Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, Lieutenant General Ivan Prokopyevich Alferov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Golden Medal The Star ” (No. 3732).

Then, at the head of the corps, he participated in the Tallinn offensive and Moonsund landing operations, for the skillful leadership of the troops during the breakthrough of the enemy’s defense and during his pursuit in these operations, Lieutenant General Alferov was awarded the Order of Kutuzov 1st degree ^[2] .

Since the end of 1944, he was treated in a hospital.

Post-War Career

In January 1946 he was appointed to the post of commander of the 7th Guards Rifle Corps ( Leningrad Military District ), in June of the same year - to the post of Assistant Inspector General of the Inspection of Rifle Forces of the Main Inspection of Ground Forces, in May 1948 - to the post of Senior Inspector , and in February 1950 - to the post of Deputy Inspector General of the Rifle Forces of the Main Inspection of the Armed Forces.

Lieutenant General Ivan Prokopyevich Alferov resigned in October 1951 . He died on August 12, 1979 in Moscow . He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery (plot 23).

• Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union (06/21/1944);
• Three Orders of Lenin (02.21.1944, 06.21.1944, 02.21.1945);
• Five Orders of the Red Banner (12/7/1933, 02/22/1939, 11/3/1944, ...);
• Order of Kutuzov 1st degree (06/29/1945);
• Two orders of Suvorov 2nd degree (February 1943, 10.26.1943);
• Anniversary medal "XX years of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army" ^[3] ;
• Other medals;
• Registered weapons (Mauser) from the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR ;
• Order of the Clouds and Banner ( Republic of China );
• Foreign medals.

• Major General (12/31/1942).
• Lieutenant General (02.22.1944).

• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov . - M .: Military Publishing , 1987.- T. 1 / Abaev - Lyubichev /. - 911 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN comp., Reg. RCP No. 87-95382.
• Team of authors . World War II: Comcor. Military Biographical Dictionary / Edited by M. G. Vozhakin . - M .; Zhukovsky: Kuchkovo Field, 2006. - T. 1. - P. 35-37. - ISBN 5-901679-08-3 .
• Team of authors . World War II: Divisional Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary / Ed. Coll .: N. B. Akberdin, I. I. Basik, S. A. Botzvin, n. I. Nikiforov, I. A. Permyakov, M. V. Smyslov . - M .: “Kuchkovo Field”. Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation , General Directorate of Personnel, State Institution for Work with Personnel, Institute of Military History of the Military Academy of the General Staff. The Central Archive ., 2014 .-- T. III. Commanders of rifle, mountain rifle divisions, Crimean, polar, Petrozavodsk divisions, Rebolsky divisions, fighter divisions. - S. 63-65. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9950-0382-3 , UDC 94, BBK 63.3 (3) 722.78.
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• The address of the feat is Vyatka. - Kirov, 1995. - S.12–13.
• Burov A.V. Your heroes, Leningrad. - Leningrad: Lenizdat, 1970.
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• Encyclopedia of the Earth Vyatka. T.3. - Kirov, 1995 .-- P.406.

• Alferov, Ivan Prokopyevich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• I.P. Alferov on the website of the Luz Library and Information System .