Vagin, Leonid Ivanovich

Leonid Vagin was born on February 18, 1905 in Tiflis (now Tbilisi , Georgia ) into a family of an employee. After graduation, he worked as a messenger in the “Union of Red Cross Cities” , assistant driver, laborer in the mill, self-employed in field work.

In March 1921, he volunteered to serve in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army , was a machine gunner of the armored train No. 1 "Soviet Georgia". In March 1922 - January 1923 he studied at machine gun courses at the 3rd Georgian Rifle Regiment. During his studies in the spring of 1922, as part of a combined detachment of cadets, he participated in the suppression of the uprising in Upper Svaneti . In 1923 he served as a machine gunner for the armored train No. 204 “Karl Marx”, in the same year he graduated from training armor plate No. 4, after which he served as an assistant driver of an armored car of the 17th separate armored squad named after the 3rd International of the Separate Caucasian Army . And at the end of that year he was sent to study.

In 1926, L.I. Vagin graduated from the Tiflis Infantry School , after which he was sent to the OGPU troops , in which he continued to serve for 15 years. Since October 1926 he served in the 8th separate Transcaucasian regiment of the OGPU: platoon commander, armored car commander, armored division commander. He took part in the suppression of anti-Soviet rebellions in Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1930 - 1931 , in the fight against banditry in the Caucasus . For military distinctions he was awarded a nominal silver watch with the inscription "For the merciless fight against banditry." In 1930 he joined the CPSU (b) . From December 1933 to May 1935 he studied at the Higher Border School in Moscow . From May 1935 to August 1937 - commander of the 109th separate division of the NKVD troops (metro Zags, Georgian SSR ).

Since August 1937 he studied at the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies named after Narimanov , graduated in January 1940. Immediately after graduation, he was sent to the front of the Soviet-Finnish War , was appointed assistant chief of staff of the 1st Murmansk border regiment of the NKVD, and at the end of February became an adjutant for intelligence with the assistant to the commander of the 15th army for the protection and defense of the rear of the army (he was K. I. Rakutin ). Since April 1940, Major Vagin served as senior assistant to the head of the department at the headquarters of the border troops of the NKVD of the Kazakh border district ^[1] .

In July 1941, Major Vagin was appointed head of the combat unit of the 249th Infantry Division , formed on the basis of border guards and military personnel of the internal troops in the Moscow military district near Zagorsk . By the end of the month, the division arrived at the front of the Great Patriotic War and was included in the 31st Army of the Reserve Front . Then Vagin was appointed commander of a separate reconnaissance battalion of the division, in September - chief of staff of the 925th infantry regiment, in January 1942 - commander of the 917th infantry regiment of the same division. As part of the 22nd Army and the 4th Shock Army of the Kalinin Front, he took part in the Battle of Smolensk , the Battle of Moscow , and the Toropetsk-Kholm Offensive Operation . During the storming of the city of Andreapol in the Kalinin region on January 16, 1942, he was wounded by a bullet in the chest, was treated at the hospital in Ostashkov . For excellent actions in the Moscow battle, the division and all its regiments were awarded the guard ranks in February 1942, the 917th rifle regiment became the 43rd guards rifle regiment, and the 249th rifle division became the 16th guards rifle division

In March, Vagin returned to duty and again took command of his already guards regiment, which in the 30th Army participated in the first Rzhev-Sychev offensive operation . On August 18, 1942, Lt. Col. L.I. Vagin was appointed commander of the 52nd Rifle Division of the 30th Army of the Kalinin Front . In the battle of August 23, received a concussion. In January 1943, the division was transferred to the Southwestern Front and transferred to the 3rd Panzer Army . She took part in the Kharkov offensive and in the Kharkov defensive operations. ^[2] At the end of February 1943, during the German counterattack, the division was encircled near Barvenkovo , when breaking through to its own, it suffered heavy losses in people and lost almost all its equipment. After going to her own, without receiving replenishment, she was transferred to the 57th Army and took up defense near Chuguev . In this state, the division did not fulfill the combat mission, for which May 3, 1943 Colonel Vagin was removed from the post of commander of the 52nd Infantry Division.

In the same month he was appointed deputy commander of the 48th Guards Rifle Division in the 57th Army. From May 31 to July 2, he temporarily served as division commander.

Since July 29, 1943, Vagin commanded the 79th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Guards Rifle Corps of the 8th Guards Army , replacing General Batyuk, who died in this position. He supervised the operations of the division in the Donbass, Zaporizhzhya, Nizhnedneprovsk, Nikopol-Krivorozh, Bereznegovato-Snigirev , Odessa , Lublin-Brest offensive operations. The division took part in the liberation of Barvenkovo , Zaporozhye , Nikopol and Odessa , and forcing the Dniester . For successful operations during the assault on Zaporozhye, she was awarded the honorary name Zaporizhskaya (October 14, 1943), for exemplary combat missions during the liberation of the city of New Bug and the breakthrough of the enemy’s defense on the Ingulets River, she was awarded the Order of Suvorov II degree (March 19, 1944) , and for excellent actions in the Odessa offensive operation and for the liberation of the city of Odessa was awarded the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky II degree (April 20, 1944).

In June 1944, the division was transferred to the 1st Belorussian Front . In July, she freed Lublin , capturing 1,700 enemy soldiers and officers. On August 1, 1944, after a seventy-kilometer throw, the unexpectedly for the enemy went to the Vistula River and forced it, without significant losses, capturing the bridgehead in the Magnushev area. During the fighting on the bridgehead, the division repelled a large number of counterattacks by German infantry and tank forces. For 10 days of fighting on the bridgehead (from August 1 to 10), the division’s soldiers destroyed 65 tanks and armored vehicles, as well as more than 2 thousand enemy soldiers and officers. For this operation, on August 13, 1944, L. I. Vagin was introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. ^[3]

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 6, 1945, for “successful leadership of military units and the courage and heroism shown” of the guard, Major General Leonid Vagin was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star medal ^[2] .

During the Wisło-Oder operation in January 1945, a division under the command of General Vagin broke through three lines of German long-term defense along the Warta River with forcing it, and swiftly fought through Poland across Oder . In this operation, the soldiers of the division destroyed 10,000 and captured 1,032 enemy soldiers and officers, destroyed 39 tanks, 89 guns, and many other military equipment. ^[4] On the 3rd (according to other documents of the 5th) of February 1945, L. I. Vagin was seriously wounded in the Kustrin region and was in the hospital until the end of the war ^[2] .

After the war, L. I. Vagin continued to serve in the Soviet Army. In July 1945, he left the hospital and again took command of the 79th Guards Rifle Division . But soon the division was reorganized into the 20th Guards Mechanized Division , he remained its commander. The division was part of the Group of Soviet occupation forces in Germany , its headquarters was located in the city of Jena . From February 1948 to November 1953 - commander of the 36th Guards Mechanized Division of the Leningrad Military District (the division’s headquarters was in Tallinn ^[5] ). Then he was sent to study, in 1954 he graduated from the Higher Academic Courses at the K.E. Voroshilov Higher Military Academy . Since December 1954 - Deputy Commander of the 11th Guards Rifle Corps ( Moscow Military District ). Since June 1956 he was the head of the Moscow Suvorov School . In April 1961, he was dismissed due to illness.

He lived in Moscow , died on April 4, 1976 . He was buried in Khimki cemetery ^[2] .

• Hero of the Soviet Union (April 6, 1945)
• Two Orders of Lenin (04/04/1945, 1946 ^[6] )
• Five Orders of the Red Banner (03/30/1942, 08/26/1942, 11/6/1943, 11/3/1943 ^[6] , 1951 ^[6] )
• Order of Suvorov, II degree (05/31/1945)
• Medal "For the capture of Berlin"
• Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw"
• Other USSR medals
• Order of Virtuti Militari ( Poland )
• Medal "For Warsaw 1939-1945" (Poland) ^[2]

• 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: 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 General Staff Military Academy The Central Archive ., 2014 .-- T. III. Commanders of rifle, mountain rifle divisions, Crimean, polar, Petrozavodsk divisions, Rebolsky divisions, fighter divisions. - S. 384-386. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9950-0382-3 , UDC 94, BBK 63.3 (3) 722.78.
• Heroes of the Fatherland. Moscow, 2004.
• Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia, full holders of the Order of Glory of the Northern AO of Moscow. M., 2003.

• Vagin, Leonid Ivanovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".