Butskalevich, Alexander Ivanovich

Member of the First World War .

Since 1918 - in the Red Army , participated in the Civil War : partisan fighter, commander of a cavalry detachment, assistant platoon commander of the 3rd cavalry regiment, squadron commander of the 35th cavalry regiment of the 6th cavalry division. For military distinctions in the Civil War he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1923).

At the end of the war, he was the commander of the squadron of the 36th cavalry regiment, a student of cavalry advanced training courses for the middle command personnel, the head of the regimental school of the 36th cavalry regiment, and the assistant commander of the 35th cavalry regiment. Later he commanded the 31st and 2nd cavalry regiments, the commander and commissar of the 82nd mountain cavalry regiment SAVO, the head of the Zimovnikovsky military stud farm. Assistant commander of the 11th and 6th cavalry divisions.

From 10/10/1940 - the commander of the 32nd cavalry division , with which he entered the Great Patriotic War .

World War II

As of June 25, 1941, a separate 32nd KD was located in the Crimea , making up the mobile reserve of the 9th Rifle Corps, the new task of which was to ensure the airborne defense of the peninsula, namely:

• The 86th cavalry regiment - Tensu state farm, 11 km north of Dzhankoy, was sent by one reinforced squadron in the direction of Taganash and Ishuni;
• 121st cavalry regiment with two batteries - Sarabuz-Tat;
• 65th cavalry regiment with one battery - Kara-Kiyat;
• 153rd cavalry regiment with one battery - Chistenkaya (2 km south of Bulganak);
• 18th Tank Regiment - Bogdanovka;
• compound headquarters - in the gardens near Akhtachi-Kiyat (6 km north of Simferopol).

In mid-July 1941, the Separate 32nd KD, under the command of Colonel A.I.Batskalevich, was transferred to the band of the 21st Army of the Western Front. Together with the newly formed 43rd and 47th cavalry divisions, she formed the Cavalry Group, which on July 23, 1941 went into a raid on enemy rear in Polesie. The general direction of the group's activities was assigned to the Inspector General of the Cavalry of the Red Army Colonel General O. I. Gorodovikov . The direct command of the cavalry group was carried out by Colonel A.I.Batskalevich.

On July 24, Baskalevich's cavalry group crossed the river. Bird and took Glusk . The actions of the cavalry group were reflected in the military diary of the Chief of the General Staff of Germany, Colonel-General Franz Halder , first in a record of July 27 , then in a record of July 28, 1941: “ at the front of Army Group Center, the Russian cavalry is still operating in the rear the right wing of the army group, and, apparently, even incapacitated the railway going to Bobruisk ", and further:" on the southern flank of the army group in our rear, obviously, the enemy cavalry corps consisting of three divisions " ^[3] .

On July 26, 1941, the task of eliminating the Soviet cavalry group, Colonel A. I. Batskalevich, was assigned to the commander of the operational rear services of the Army Group Center, infantry general M. von Schenkendorf . He attracted parts of the 162nd, 252nd and 87th Infantry Divisions, aviation and the cavalry regiment of the SS under the command of G. Fegelein . As a result, the enemy managed to regain control of the Warsaw highway. Three cavalry regiments of the Soviet 32nd Cavalry Division were cut off from the main forces of the cavalry group north of the highway. South of the highway, the 121st Cavalry Regiment (with which the division control was moving), pursued by the enemy, was overtaken and surrounded in the Seltsi area. Only on the night of July 27, he managed to break out of encirclement and connect with units of the 43rd and 47th cavalry divisions in the Orekhovka area.

Three cavalry regiments, which turned out to be north of the highway, took diversionary actions and attacked Art. Ash and Tatark stop on the Minsk-Bobruisk railway line. However, the enemy managed to regain control of the railway, and an attempt to cross the river. Berezina in the direction of Lubonichi was not successful. Three cavalry regiments were surrounded in the forest north of the village of Kopcha, managed to break out to the west, but were soon again surrounded in the forest southeast of Osipovich (in the Osipovichi-Korytno-Tatark triangle) and destroyed. The German 87th Infantry Division reported the capture of 815 people.

On July 29, 1941, according to Halder, "the enemy cavalry corps is still operating in the rear of an army group." However, further attempts by the cavalry group to break through the Warsaw highway were unsuccessful. On August 1, the cavalry group of Colonel A. I. Batskalevich was supposed to resume movement in the direction of the Warsaw highway, but its commanders sent the following telegram to the higher command: “ As a result of lengthy battles and marches, the horse-drawn train is extremely exhausted and does not withstand 20-25 km of march. The materiel is behind, the ammunition is running out, there is no grain. The exhaustion of the horse makes the units uncompetent. The enemy is accompanied by aircraft and everywhere at nodes meets motorized infantry. I consider it necessary to take parts of the group abroad p. Bird to clean. Butskalevich, Genesyk, Glinsky . ”

On this occasion, F. von Bock wrote the following entry in his diary: “The Russians do not code most of their radio messages, which is very beneficial to us. Today, for example, the commander of the Russian cavalry detachment, which operated behind the front line on my southern wing, reported that he should withdraw to his own because of lack of food, ammunition and horses ... ” ^[4]

On August 3, Franz Halder noted in a military diary that “the cavalry units of the enemy operating in our rear ran out almost completely. They are now in such a state that they will not be able to cause us any harm . " The next day: " at the front of the army group, there is a gradual fragmentation of Russian cavalry formations on the extreme southern flank ."

After a raid on the enemy’s rear and exit from the encirclement, the remnants of the 32nd Cavalry Division join the 3rd Army of the Central Front . On August 6, 1941, the 32nd Cavalry Division received a new commander; at about the same time, the brigade was led by brigade commander A. B. Borisov .

In the Memorial OBD there is the following entry: “ Former commander of 32 KD Colonel Baskalevich Alexander Ivanovich, being surrounded in the area with. Belousovka, on September 25, 1941, was seriously wounded and left in the village of Orzhitsa, Sumy region . ”

Later, Batskalevich was at the disposal of the cavalry commander. Deputy Head of the Military Studs Directorate, Head of the Voroshilov Military Stud Farm. Major General (11/2/1944).

In 1948, he was transferred to the reserve due to illness. After 4 years, he was reinstated in personnel and appointed head of the military equestrian factory named after the 1st Cavalry Army. In 1953, dismissed.

He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and many medals ^[5] .

• Team of authors . World War II: Divisional Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary. - M .: Kuchkovo field, 2011. - T. 1. - S. 86-88. - 200 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9950-0189-8 .
• HBS "Memorial".
• Operational report No. 06 / a of the headquarters of the 9th Special Corps by 10:00 on June 25, 1941 (Simferopol) // TsAMO USSR. - F.228. - Op. 701. - D.63. - L.12.
• Tyncherov B.F. Symbol of the Second Defense. On the use of tanks in battles for Sevastopol. 1941-1942 // http://www.knigka.info
• Feskov V.I., Kalashnikov K.A., Golikov V.I. The Red Army in victories and defeats 1941-1945. - Tomsk: Publishing House of Tomsk University, 2003.